what are you reading?

[Baggypants]

I've just finished reading "Three Men on the Bummel" the sequel to "Three Men in a Boat" It wasn't as successful as "Boat" and I didn't much like it. "Boat" is sublime timeless English humour of three good friends who wind each other up and yet see themselves as totally blameless. It's a real hoot even 120 years after it was published. "Bummel" is a story of three men who go to Germany, do funny things and have funny things happen to them. It's an easy read and has it's moments (the bit about overhauling bicycles especially) but it constantly feels contrived and is also a snapshot of history and of times and traditions that are gone. "Boat" feels like your riding the current of a river, it draws you on. "Bummel" feels like your cycling through dramatic countryside, you need to put the work in to get the most out of it.

[noodles]

Mr Nice - Howard Marks

The life of an international hash and weed smuggler back in the 70s and 80s.

[noodles]

<Z80 book pic>
You all know I'm a die-hard 6502 guy, but I've always wondered what it would be like to fly a TIE Fighter instead of an X-Wing, so I grabbed a copy of this from an Amazon seller in the US and am a couple of chapters in.

I'm getting Machine Language for the C64 by Jim Butterfield as I want to catch up on my laziness back in the day where I only skimmed the essentials of 6502.
If only I had known about this book back then I might have tried harder since good info on the subject was pretty sparse.

[Mark]

I finally read Flatland after many years of meaning to. I ended up enjoying it, after first finding it rather unlike-able. The description of Flatland society that makes up the first half of the book with it's strict class system was kinda callous and charmless, and left me a bit cold. Thankfully I was aware it was very short so I stuck with it, and enjoyed the second half much more. I'd definitely recommend it, all things considered. The geometry side of things is definitely its strength, and even as someone with many years of 3D modelling experience I appreciated some of the insights. It's on Gutenberg, so is ideal eReader fodder.

[Baggypants]

I read "Wind in the Willows" Because we saw a play of it recently. It's still good. Rather wasted on children I think.

[gumboot]

I finally read Flatland after many years of meaning to.

I watched the film instead.

[Daniel]

I finally read Flatland after many years of meaning to.

I watched the film instead.

2D or 3D version?

[Daniel]

I'm reading "Uprooted". It's a fairy tale type of fantasy, but a really good one.

[zip accident]

I tried:



I may well read volume three of the trilogy if the price is right.

I've just read:



I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the other five, they are apparently two "books" per physical volume, and boy does he like to regurgitate his own letters and memos. On the other hand, it's WW2, and he was deeply in it. Probably the best books on the period, but ...

[Governmentyard]

I'm reading the second book in the trilogy of books that explain what happened after Return of the Jedi. It's one of those "started so I'll finish" experiences. Not as bad as the Bloodlines book which was all about how Leia did fuck all that one time, and someone did a thing and it annoyed her son probably, only he's not in it.

The quality of Star Wars novels has not improved since the olden days.

tl;dr - Splinter of the Mind's Arse.

[Portland]

Redoing Winter King, Enemy of God, Excalibur, as I've not given them a run in a while. novelty, as first time on Kindle rather than our knackered physical copies.

[k345y]

Re-visiting 2001 : A Space Odyssey


quite interesting how Clarke had a vision of educational institutes having an integrated and shared library of knowledge. Telelibrary, he called it. Guy was well sharp.

[CrashedAlex]

I'm reading the two volume set about Gremlin Graphics. Really good and way better than I was expecting it to be.

[zip accident]

Just finished (last night):


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141441771/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The whole six volume thing was interesting, fascinating even, it uses a lot of notes and telegrams he sent to people (he wasn't shy about sending long telegrams, even though telegrams were very expensive for ordinary punters), so it's more or less a recreation of a blog of the war written from his POV. There were some interesting viewpoints, such as (years before the war) "This was Hitler's last chance to meet me". In this volume I was surprised that Hitler shot himself with a revolver. He clearly didn't like Hitler's attitude or ideology, but there was no mention of the holocaust.

[Baggypants]

I'm reading "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens. I think it's the first proper Dickens I've read since school and now I feel foolish for having left it so long. It really sucks you in with wonderful scene setting but ramps up the peace in such a way you almost feel you're barreling through the journey with Scrooge. The bits about Fezziwig were breathtaking and the stuff about Bob Cratchetts family is a lazer shap masterclass on the pulling of heartstrings.