The SMB Book thread

Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov 10/10
Short but brilliant. It's instantly one of my favourite Nabokov novels, up there with Lolita and Pale Fire. Plenty of people will be repulsed by a couple of paragraphs in the middle of the book graphically describing photos of a naked girl, but as a review in The Guardian pointed out the description is there for a reason. A phrase within the sequence "the flame of his interest" assumes crucial meaning once you reach the end of his book.

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Finished Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined"

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Book about how despite what the news and politicians may tell you, we actually live in a much less violent society. We are basically experiencing a golden age. It's a 7 out of 10 for me. Overall a good book that would have scored higher but it's just too f***ing long (around 800 pages) and frankly there were various sections and entire chapters (e.g. chapter 8) where I lost interest and had to force myself to keep going.
 
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino 10/10
I first read this as a teen thirty years ago. Really impressed that while I was listening to 80s music and wearing really bad clothes I was also receptive to a novel as radical and innovative as this.

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JonnotheMackem said:
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Utterly fascinating if you have any interest in nerd culture, magic the gathering or poker and blackjack, otherwise don’t bother.
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I was hooked on this one.
I read it on holiday, When I finished I gave it to a bloke staying at the same hotel as me who asked me what I was reading. It turns out he was a professional poker player on holiday with about twenty of his family all enjoying the procedes of his winnings.
 
Harry Angstrom said:
Picked that up at a charity shop. Is it a good read for a plane journey?
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I think so. Bar a few daft additions like calling a unit of measurement a 'ninja' it was a riveting read. Apparently, everything bar the storm that kick starts the book is 100% plausible as well which I found quite impressive.
 
‘Sugar in the Blood,’ by Andrea Stuart


A story that includes family history but is mainly about the sugar industry and slavery in Barbados since the 1630s. It was a book club read. I loved* the book and scored it 8/10. Many of the book club did not like it, so it may not appeal to all. The link above gives more of an idea.

* loved is probably not the right word but I enjoyed reading the book. The tale is horrific in parts.
 
March and April have been busy months, so bitesize reviews below:

Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall - 9/10
- really interesting book about geopolitics, written in a very entertaining way so maybe not deep enough for those really into the subject. But went well with a few glasses of whisky. Probably my favourite book of 2018. I've bought the sequel book "Worth Dying For" about the politics of flags, so hopefully as good.

Why Wall Street Matters, William Cohan - 5/10
- meh, I suppose I learnt a bit but it was neither particularly enlightening, nor entertaining. At least it was short.

Mortality, Christopher Hitchens - 6/10
- short and unfinished memoir of Hitchens' unfortunately unsuccessful battle against cancer.

Letters to a Young Muslim, Omar Ghobash - 7/10
- a bit random for an atheist, but the front cover caught my eye and I picked up. Was actually a rather poignant and insightful read from a progressive muslim hoping to persuade young muslims such as his sons to seek their own truth.

How the World Works, Noam Chomsky - 7/10
- I'd never read Chomsky before, so I decided to change that by picking up a few. This was the first one I started with, and to be honest it was pretty eye-opening. Some of the activities (now on public record thanks to freedom of information laws) which the USA and to a lesser extent the UK got up to during the Cold War is pretty incredible (not in a good way).

The New Geopolitics of Gas - 8/10
- actually a lot better than the title suggests. I picked it up after the Russian nerve-gas incident kicked off, as I wanted to know just how badly the Russian had us by the balls with respect to gas supplies. Started me off on a bit of a Russia-theme for the rest of March/April.

The Silk Roads - A New History of the World, Peter Frankopan - 6/10
- First half covered thousands of years too briefly. Second half covered only 100 years too deeply. Not really what I was after, but at least it has one of the most beautiful front covers I've ever seen so it looks good on the book shelf.

Deep Undercover, Jack Barsky - 6/10
- a real-life undercover Soviet spy sneaking into the USA and settling as an American. Think of the TV show "The Americans". Didn't really do much spying once he was there though. Then found god and becomes insufferably evangelical for the last portion of the book.

The Last Empire, The Final Days of the Soviet Union, Serhii Plokhy, 7/10
- pretty interesting insight into the late 80's early 90's era of Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Bush Sr. Mainly covers the 1991 coup attempt, and how the Soviet Union fell apart in the 6 months afterwards.

Inside Russian Politics, Edwin Bacon, - 5/10
- really not particularly good or well written.
 
TartanMackem said:
Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall - 9/10
- really interesting book about geopolitics, written in a very entertaining way so maybe not deep enough for those really into the subject. But went well with a few glasses of whisky. Probably my favourite book of 2018. I've bought the sequel book "Worth Dying For" about the politics of flags, so hopefully as good.
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great to hear... its on my shelf at home & is next up to read... spotted it in waterstones before christmas and its been in the queue for a while now!
 
errant said:
great to hear... its on my shelf at home & is next up to read... spotted it in waterstones before christmas and its been in the queue for a while now!
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Yea, it's a good choice. A lot of non-fiction can be a bit of a slog at times as you get bombarded with dates and names and intricate details that you will never remember. This was much more of a light and entertaining read. But I still found it really insightful.

peachbum said:
‘Sugar in the Blood,’ by Andrea Stuart


A story that includes family history but is mainly about the sugar industry and slavery in Barbados since the 1630s. It was a book club read. I loved* the book and scored it 8/10. Many of the book club did not like it, so it may not appeal to all. The link above gives more of an idea.

* loved is probably not the right word but I enjoyed reading the book. The tale is horrific in parts.
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I will add that to a to-read list. I was on a bit of a slavery theme over Christmas and NY and I might return to it.
 
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Gallow's Pole - Benjamin Myers 6/10
Reviewed elsewhere on this thread by people whose opinion I trust but it never grabbed me the same way it grabbed them. He painted the Yorkshire countryside well and the tale could have been set in the modern day with the way he portrayed the fine line between fear and respect that surrounds criminals.
Myers just about got away with his refusal to use quotation marks however I think it added nothing so not sure why he persisted with it.

Dark Winter - David Mark 6/10
Met the author during the Writing Festival and he's a nice bloke. Was looking forward to his first novel but it was disjointed and cliched in parts. Random coincidence formed a large part of the plot and some bits of the plot line seemed to be dropped in from nowhere. His description of women was clunky at best and at worst, described them as little more than a walking pair of breasts.
A pet hate of mine is the cliche of a struggling writer in novels, at least he didn't make him the protagonist.
The idea behind the story was quite good and it's not without merit but he didn't carry it off. I wouldn't want to be judged on the quality of writing in my first novel so I'm prepared to cut him some slack as he has gone on to be successful but I'm not rushing to read anything else by him.
 
RestlessNatives said:
Gallow's Pole - Benjamin Myers 6/10
Reviewed elsewhere on this thread by people whose opinion I trust but it never grabbed me the same way it grabbed them. He painted the Yorkshire countryside well and the tale could have been set in the modern day with the way he portrayed the fine line between fear and respect that surrounds criminals.
Myers just about got away with his refusal to use quotation marks however I think it added nothing so not sure why he persisted with it.

Dark Winter - David Mark 6/10
Met the author during the Writing Festival and he's a nice bloke. Was looking forward to his first novel but it was disjointed and cliched in parts. Random coincidence formed a large part of the plot and some bits of the plot line seemed to be dropped in from nowhere. His description of women was clunky at best and at worst, described them as little more than a walking pair of breasts.
A pet hate of mine is the cliche of a struggling writer in novels, at least he didn't make him the protagonist.
The idea behind the story was quite good and it's not without merit but he didn't carry it off. I wouldn't want to be judged on the quality of writing in my first novel so I'm prepared to cut him some slack as he has gone on to be successful but I'm not rushing to read anything else by him.
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Have you read any other Ben Myers stuff mate?

I enjoyed Gallows Pole, it was the first of his I read, but I liked Pig Iron and Turning Blue more.

He’s just been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize.

errant said:
great to hear... its on my shelf at home & is next up to read... spotted it in waterstones before christmas and its been in the queue for a while now!
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I really enjoyed it read it over a year ago now. Like @TartanMackem says it’s not overly deep but it paints enough of a general picture to be entertaining and thought provoking. I’ve got the flags one, not got into it yet though.
 
Jasper said:
Have you read any other Ben Myers stuff mate?

I enjoyed Gallows Pole, it was the first of his I read, but I liked Pig Iron and Turning Blue more.

He’s just been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize.



I really enjoyed it read it over a year ago now. Like @TartanMackem says it’s not overly deep but it paints enough of a general picture to be entertaining and thought provoking. I’ve got the flags one, not got into it yet though.
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Not yet but I've been advised that I would enjoy them more than Gallows Pole. I've downloaded another one on my kindle, can't remember which one. Might have a go when I finish my current book.
 
TartanMackem said:
Yea, it's a good choice. A lot of non-fiction can be a bit of a slog at times as you get bombarded with dates and names and intricate details that you will never remember. This was much more of a light and entertaining read. But I still found it really insightful.



I will add that to a to-read list. I was on a bit of a slavery theme over Christmas and NY and I might return to it.
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If you find the first part a bit date orientated, go to part 2, the style changes slightly. I read the whole book but some preferred the second part a bit more.

There are two family trees at the front which are helpful.
 
Robert Rankin - The Antipope

Just finished reading this after a recommendation on here )not sure if this thread or not). Part 1 of his Brentford trilogy. An excellent introduction to the otherworldliness of life in Brentford. I'll read through the other 9 (I think) in the trilogy gradually. 9/10
 
Just ordered today the Ray Cokes autobiography "My Most Wanted Life".

Had absolutely no idea the book had been published in 2014 and only stumbled across it this morning.

Loved his show on MTV during the late 80s and into the 90s with his co-host Marcel van Thiljt.

When it arrives it will definitely go to the top of my to read pile.
 

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