The SMB Book thread

Enjoyed that but he's not a particularly likeable person.
He’s got the benefit of the doubt at the halfway point… canny mad that he took that teaching job, then on day 1 decided he was 100% going to gan after the best looking lass in the room, 10 years his junior :eek:

It’s very well written
 


Currently forcing my way through HG Wells, The Shape Of Things To Come. Can’t say I’m particularly enjoying it though.
The only other books by him that I’ve read by him I’ve quite liked. Namely, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine and The War in the Air. All of which told a story that was enjoyable. But the way TSOTTC is written is just odd. I’ll persevere all the same though.
 
Currently reading Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. I'm only a couple of chapters into it as I haven't had much time for reading recently, so far so good, quite funny too.
 
Bernal Diaz - The Conquest of New Spain.

Reads exactly as it was written - by a 70 year old former soldier who was recalling events decades previous and writing with no literary aptitude. But as an insight from an eyewitness and active participant to Hernando Cortes’ conquest of Mexico it’s an astonishing read.

Particularly the passages describing the lifestyle of Montezuma.
 
Charles Shaar Murray: Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and Post War Pop.

CSM with the usual ex NME semi pretentious semi biography semi thesis stuff. Attempts are made to place Hendrix in US social, musical and cultural history and it’s a decent attempt.
I like his music, his singings ok but his lyrics are still crap in afraid. I nivver realised he’d only made three proper studio albums. The racks were always crammed with his stuff when record shops existed and I was a lad. CSM explains how and where they all came from. He also reckons the unfinished fourth album would’ve been the best and after a few Spotify listens I’m seeing his point. First Rays Of The New Rising Sun or summet.

CSMs John Lee Hooker biog or Springsteen’s autobiog or a Tom Waits biog next. Hmmmm.
 
just finished this, its canny. quick read, really interesting anecdotes on Elizabethan times, loads of explanations of his works and how his use, and creation, of language is still in use today. what surprised me most is how little is known of shakespeare, theres barely any solid evidence regarding any parts of his life, even to the point where there is a massive community that believes he didnt even exist
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International bestseller Bill Bryson brings us this brilliantly readable biography of the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare.

Join Bill as he takes you on a journey through Elizabethan England, tackling the myths, half-truths and downright lies to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces.
 
just finished this, its canny. quick read, really interesting anecdotes on Elizabethan times, loads of explanations of his works and how his use, and creation, of language is still in use today. what surprised me most is how little is known of shakespeare, theres barely any solid evidence regarding any parts of his life, even to the point where there is a massive community that believes he didnt even exist
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International bestseller Bill Bryson brings us this brilliantly readable biography of the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare.

Join Bill as he takes you on a journey through Elizabethan England, tackling the myths, half-truths and downright lies to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces.
Never really got into Bill Bryson, some good jokes but he gets tiresome after a while. This though. I enjoyed. Read it in one sitting. The John Thomas Looney of South Shields section lives up to his name
 
Never really got into Bill Bryson, some good jokes but he gets tiresome after a while. This though. I enjoyed. Read it in one sitting. The John Thomas Looney of South Shields section lives up to his name
I like Bill Bryson. Can imagine him being great company for a few pints if you caught him in the right mood.
 
Singing From the Well - Reinaldo Arenas

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This exact version too, that has stuck with me for over ten years.

It's unforgettable. Nothing happens - there's no plot. A teenage boy gets abused by his whole family, starves almost to death, and it ends with this surreal play-like sequence where the extent of the abuse comes out. On the one hand, it's a beautifully written fever dream, but on the other it's a horrifying account of a miserable childhood.

I've never read anything like it and that's why I've kept it close since the summer of 2007.
 
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Currently reading Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. I'm only a couple of chapters into it as I haven't had much time for reading recently, so far so good, quite funny too.
Really enjoyed this one.

I've just started reading Putin's People: The Story of Russia's History and Politics by Catherine Belton. It felt like a good time to start it...
 
Currently reading Madhouse at the End of the Earth. About a Belgian-led expedition to the Antarctic in the late 19th century. Ferk me but they were some hard mad bastards around in them days. The first mate was a young Roald Amundsen on his first visit to Antarctica - he sounds like a right head case anarl. It's well worth a read.

One of the scientists on board was studying penguins, so of course this involved killing them & cutting them up. But hunting the little fuckers often involved chasing them for miles across the pack ice even after they had been shot a couple of times. So they came across a much easier way: one guy would stand on the deck and play his cornet and penguins would gather round and stand there listening to the music. Then guys would run round from the other side of the ship and club the buggers to death.
 

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