What are you reading at the moment?

This sounds a bit geeky. One of my interests is handwriting and letters, especially from the famous.

This substantial book, Letters of Note, is a collection of letters written by such people as Elvis to the President, an exchange between Frank Lloyd Wright and a small boy who wants a kennel designed for his dog, a letter written by an insane German inmate who writes come back to me over and over, letters from JFK, Churchill, Edward V111, too many to list but there is a letters of note website if you are interested.

The book has photographs of the actual letters, which is good for geeks like me who are interested in how people write in addition to what they write.



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Not geeky at all. In a similar vein, I enjoyed this. It is broken down by topic - love, family, revenge, loyalty - that sort of thing. I you haven't read it, then it might be of interest to you.

cheers - I.
 
I was reading Letters of Note yesterday, one of the earliest letters is from 900AD, wriiten in China and translated as 'I am sorry that I got so drunk last night and disgraced myself with swearing and bad behaviour, I wish that the earth would open up and swallow me.'
 
On the Noir-ish front, I recently read the book that became the film Get Carter by Mike Hodges. It was originally called Jack's Return Home, but is now published in the same name as the film. British Noir. Engrossing from the first line, I read it in two sittings. An astonishing sense of place, unremittingly grim (up north), it pisses down constantly and the risk of secondary lung cancer is very real. The plot of the film - one of my top ten - and the book are pretty close together with a couple of fairly major differences, which I shan't point out. I couldn't recommend it too highly. The author is Ted Lewis. Cheers - I.

Thank you...will order it now...
 
I was reading Letters of Note yesterday, one of the earliest letters is from 900AD, wriiten in China and translated as 'I am sorry that I got so drunk last night and disgraced myself with swearing and bad behaviour, I wish that the earth would open up and swallow me.'
What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others - Diogenes (?410 - 323 B.C.E)

Plus ca change? :)

- I.
 
@PHR

I meant to thank you, having read the above on your recommendation a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it very much - I read it from the point of view of having an undergraduate level understanding of the subject and I am aware of the major controversies and debates in the discipline. It's been about ten years since I last read on the topic and as is usual with pre-history, the recent advances in dating technologies - climatic, lithic and organic - have been little short of revolutionary. Astonishingly precise date ranges, DNA & RNA recovery that proves that Neanderthals, Sapiens & Denisovians could and did produce fertile offspring. The author perhaps slightly lets herself down in the respect that she seeks, as all modern authors on the subject do, to drag her subject out of the long Hobbesian shadow it was born under; only to end up some sort of proto-hippies. Just as ridiculous but at the other end of the spectrum. I abjured the chapter intros - sub-Clan of the Cave Bear - and didn't think they had a place in what is otherwise an academically sound book for the general reader. Unfortunately even the most modern technology doesn't help much with the big question - why we Sapiens survived and they didn't. All in all a good read - as you said, ideal if you have ever wondered about the subject. Thank you again. - I.
 
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I was reading Letters of Note yesterday, one of the earliest letters is from 900AD, wriiten in China and translated as 'I am sorry that I got so drunk last night and disgraced myself with swearing and bad behaviour, I wish that the earth would open up and swallow me.'

"Letters of Note"? "Letters that Changed The World"? This thread can't close without a mention of Henry Root (William Donaldson)!

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I'm currently reading Dracula by Bram Stoker.

It's supposed to be a "classic". I bought it, as I like the old Hammer horror films and also the 1992 film with Gary Oldman as Dracula. To be honest, though. I'm finding the book a real struggle. The first few chapters are good, but it loses ground after that and never recovers. I'm giving serious consideration to giving this book up. Whether or not it can truly be defined as a "classic" is open to debate, but I just don't think this book is for me. I think that it is destined for my recycling bin.

I'll stick to the film versions, I think.
 
Great Author Sven Hassel.
Legion of the Damned came out in 1953.
A series of books with 90 % factual due to him being in the German Army.
Iv read them all many years ago
possibly 35 years ago but fancied doing them again
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Inside Broadmoor by Jonathan Levi and Emma French

This book should have been good. Instead, it was woefully inaccurate and badly-written. Don't bother with this book. I wish that I hadn't.
 
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I had the pleasure today, for the first time since lock-down, to revisit the Oxfam bookshop at the top of Byres Road in Glasgow. I find it the best bookshop in the city. This is what I got for my £20 budget. Always an eclectic and interesting choice. A couple of authors I know - particularly Robert Byron, his The Road to Oxiana is justifiably regarded as a classic. Rosetta Stone? Why not? - everyone loves a bit of demotic Egyptian.

- I.

@Missoni @Blademonkey
 
The Krays - The Prison Years by David Meikle and Kate Beal Blyth

This book focuses on the Kray twins' lives behind bars, and some of the people who knew them in prison. I found the book fascinating and incredibly hard to put down. A must-read for True Crime fans.
 
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I had the pleasure today, for the first time since lock-down, to revisit the Oxfam bookshop at the top of Byres Road in Glasgow. I find it the best bookshop in the city. This is what I got for my £20 budget. Always an eclectic and interesting choice. A couple of authors I know - particularly Robert Byron, his The Road to Oxiana is justifiably regarded as a classic. Rosetta Stone? Why not? - everyone loves a bit of demotic Egyptian.

- I.

@Missoni @Blademonkey
Good catch. I am just ordered a couple of Carl Sagan favourites. I was in awe of the voyager programme and how the records came about, so looking forward to Cosmos and The Dragons of Eden.
 
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