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What are you reading - Part II


jrlx

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I've been reading the D'Artagnan series by Alexandre Dumas, I was only ever aware of The Three Musketeers and had no idea that The Man in the Iron Mask was a continuation on from that and is in fact the last of the series of six books.

 

Obviously I started with The Three Musketeers, followed by Twenty Years After (in which the four heroes reunite and try to save Charles I from getting his head lopped off), The Vicomte de Bragelonne (where D'Artagnan and Athos play a hand in the restoration of Charles II), just started Ten Years Later which links to Louise de la Vallière before concluding with The Man in the Iron Mask.  Once I've finished that little lot I've got The Count of Monte Christo (which is quite intimidating at over 1000 pages), to read.

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2 minutes ago, psdavidson said:

Funnily enough, I'm just about to start this as an audiobook.  Nearly 53 hours!

 

Wow!

 

My daughter told me it was one of the options for her English GCSE readings only it was split into three volumes.

 

Oh well, it'll keep me occupied for a while.

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12 hours ago, Procopius said:

I just read Alfred Price's The Last Year of the Luftwaffe, a good read and I do love a happy ending. But I think Price is a bit precious about his interviewees and very reluctant to criticize them explicitly -- it is, for example, clear that Adolf Galland's plan to hold back the Jagdwaffe for some kind of massive blow with largely untrained pilots against the USAAF would have been a Teutonic Turkey Shoot, based on what happened pretty every single other time the Luftwaffe attempted such mass attacks at the end of 1944. 

 

Right now I'm reading The Hive, by Tim Curran, which is a so-so H P Lovecraft pastiche dealing with my absolute favourite Lovecraftian beastie, the fivefold radially symmetrical cucumbers from Hell that are the Elder Things/Old Ones, not to be confused with the Great Old Ones.

That is one of my favourite reads. I think it could do with being a bit longer, as I think he skates over some topics. He is obviously keen on technology and a bit more about some operational and training issues would have been good.

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I am reading 'A Spy  Amongst Friends: Philby and the Great Betrayal' by Ben MACINTYRE.(BBC journalist).

all about British double agents and such like  just before WWII came about. 

 

a paragraph from the book:

On 15 August, 111 Hurricane Squadron was scrambled to intercept a formation of Luftwaffe Messerschmitts that had crossed the Channel at Dungeness. In the ferocious, sky-sprawling dogfight that followed, one of the fiercest engagements in the Battle of Britain, seven of the German fighter-bombers were shot down. Basil Fisher’s plane was seen peeling away with smoke and flames streaming from the fuselage. He managed to bail out over the village of Sidlesham in West Sussex, with his parachute on fire. The cables burned through, and Elliott’s friend tumbled to earth. The pilotless Hurricane crashed into a barn. The body of Flying Officer Basil Fisher was found in Sidlesham pond. He was buried in the churchyard of the Berkshire village where he had been born.

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Now reading James Holland's Normandy '44, which is replete with personal stories from the people who were there.

 

I've also got the Circle by Dave Eggers on the go, a somewhat dystopian novel about someone who goes to work from the circle, a software business which has become the internet.

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5 minutes ago, Whofan said:

I've also got the Circle by Dave Eggers on the go, a somewhat dystopian novel about someone who goes to work from the circle, a software business which has become the internet.

 

Fun fact: I went to school with David Eggers' younger brother, Christopher, and my mom was good friends with his mom before she died.

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20 minutes ago, Procopius said:

 

Fun fact: I went to school with David Eggers' younger brother, Christopher, and my mom was good friends with his mom before she died.

 

Interesting! I read up on Dave Eggers and it turned out he ended up having to look after his younger brother on his own because their parents died of cancer within a year of each other.

 

 

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Our library now loans ebooks and audio books and I am currently reading 'The Bridge at Remagen' by Ken Hechler in my phone (easiest way for me to read stuff these days) 

It is a fairly easy read and tries to tell the story from both sides. 

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On 8/18/2021 at 9:10 PM, Whofan said:

 

I've also got the Circle by Dave Eggers on the go, a somewhat dystopian novel about someone who goes to work from the circle, a software business which has become the internet.

The Circle is brilliant and terrifying in equal measure. “Surely no one would ever? Oh, they already did…”

best,

M.

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8 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

The Circle is brilliant and terrifying in equal measure. “Surely no one would ever? Oh, they already did…”

best,

M.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm about 90 pages in, so clearly a lot to discover !

 

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20 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Re The Count of Monte Cristo, if you can find the Gerard Depardieu TV version from around the turn of the century (!) it’s really very good, and a happy compromise between a 2h movie and 53h audiobook…

best,

M.

 

I can remember the superb BBC adaptation from 1964, which I doubt could be bettered.  Twelve episodes (I remember it seemed to be broadcast for months!).  Alan Badel was outstanding as Edmond Dantes.  Now I've been reminded, I'm tempted to get the DVD, five hours of great television.

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30 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

I  believe that now qualifies you to be Prime Minister of Great Britian Bill.

 

Believe it or not, I have all three volumes of Gladstone's Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age. I even read them. What a geek! (Me, not him.) Although he did his best to promote that "every word of Homer is true" he might be surprised with today's scholarship. As for me, well, I think something happened around 1250 BC that underlies the Trojan War stories. Probably all that Sea Peoples stuff.

 

I tried to update my fixation with epic by reading Ilium by Dan Simmons but it isn't Homer. But what is? I did enjoy Drood however.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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10 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

I tried to update my fixation with epic by reading Ilium by Dan Simmons but it isn't Homer. But what is? I did enjoy Drood however.

I enjoyed them back in the day, but Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are all the Simmons you really need. I would recommend Guy Gavriel Kay, though: Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors for the epic, but Lions of al Rassan for the brilliant one-off. Or maybe just all of them. Theodore Braun’s “Wanderer Chronicles” are also very engaging… a “Viking’s Dawn” for the 21st century…

best,

M.

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17 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Re The Count of Monte Cristo, if you can find the Gerard Depardieu TV version from around the turn of the century (!) it’s really very good, and a happy compromise between a 2h movie and 53h audiobook…

best,

M.

 

 

16 hours ago, 593jones said:

 

I can remember the superb BBC adaptation from 1964, which I doubt could be bettered.  Twelve episodes (I remember it seemed to be broadcast for months!).  Alan Badel was outstanding as Edmond Dantes.  Now I've been reminded, I'm tempted to get the DVD, five hours of great television.

 

Much as I don't need to acquire more TV show to watch, these have both been added to the list but I will need to finsh the audiobook first (don't want any spoilers), a mere 46 hours left!

Finshed reading Fatherland yesterday, so starting Dreadnought: A History of the Modern Battleship by Richard Hough

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I think Fatherland is one of the best alternative history books I’ve ever read, along with SS GB by Len Deighton. 

 

Now where have I put my copies of both? I feel a rummage coming on.

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Just picked this up from the car boot this morning for 50p so will start reading it this evening.

 

Love the Art Deco cover. Looks to be just my cup of tea. 

 

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On 8/22/2021 at 2:38 PM, Neil.C said:

Love the Art Deco cover. Looks to be just my cup of tea. 

It's a cracking read, as is his book on the Lancaster.

 

I finished CW2 last night, (Wow!), so I've now moved onto Chickenhawk. For about the sixth time.

If you read one, you MUST read the other if you have any interest whatsoever in the use of Helicopters in Vietnam.

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