What's everybody reading? (And what would you recommend?)

General Discussion
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I’m reminded of what for me is possibly the most unreadable French history book ever and possibly also the first, Gregory of Tours History of the Franks, written in the C6th CE. It’s an unremmitting litany of treachery, murder and gruesome mediaeval deaths written as a sort of list that spans umpteen Merovingian kings and at the end one feels one has learnt or remembered nothing. However at least I’ve remembered the book, so can’t put it on the same mental shelf as Jane Eyre and The Postmodernist always…

Apologies to everyone for how my posts seem to have gone off-piste by focussing on the unreadable.

Trying to be more historically positive, I’d gladly recommend Robb’s highly informative and donnishly witty, The Discovery of France (much better than his book on Paris), but I imagine many on SF already have a copy.

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63

Amor Towles’ writing is superb. So economical, so elegant. Do enjoy it.

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It’s better at “A” level!

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From the sound of this, you might enjoy Guy Bellamy’s books, which have just been released on Kindle. Well-written, with memorable characters, they’re largely set in the second half of the 20th century and are wryly reflective of their times. Light reading for sure, but memory-prodding as well as amusing.

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66

Just ordered A year without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd. Historical novel based on true events ( that I can’t believe we don’t all know about)

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@Katiefleur
Oooh volcanic winter? Famine, Waterloo etc? Not Krakatoa, that was much later I think - which volcano was it? I shall order it, thank you for the recommendation :blush:

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1816, Mount Tambora.

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Got 4 books on the go at the moment:

Linda Davies - Something Wild.
David & Leigh Eddings - The Redemption of Althalus
David Ignatius - The Increment
B R Kingsolver - Chameleon Assassin

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This story gives a peek into the lives of several characters who were affected, directly or indirectly, by a massive volcano eruption on Sumbawa Island, Indonesia, in the year 1650. The world’s climate was affected and caused unusual weather conditions and unrest. (Synopsis from Amazon) must say that Guin the author is a friend of mine, from way back.

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The first link isn’t correct, it’s 1815.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/05/the-year-without-summer-guinevere-glasfurd-review

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The Great Victorian Novel … :unamused: And I have really given George Elliot and Jane Austin a fair crack but I just am at two with them. I see the point of Austin - the irony and all that but still, the characters … I know they’re made up but they still hack me off.

Speaking up for the non-fictionistas, a book about the Frenchman of greatest renown in the world, Napoleon Bonaparte 'Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte’ by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne is fascinating.

De Bourrienne went to school with Bonaparte, where they were friends, they bummed about in Paris together after Military Academy, sharing digs. De Bourrienne became his secretary …

'He went with his General to Egypt, and returned with him to France. While Napoleon was making his formal entry into the Tuileries, Bourrienne was preparing the cabinet he was still to share with the Consul. In this cabinet—our cabinet, as he is careful to call it—he worked with the First Consul till 1802. During all this time the pair lead lived on terms of equality and friendship creditable to both. The secretary neither asked for nor received any salary: when he required money, he simply dipped into the cash-box of the First Consul.’

A fascinating close-up, intimate account of the man whose influence on Europe still reverberates today, including, in my view, Brexit.

I coming into the closing years of the life of Benjamin Disraeli. There are shades of the young Disraeli that put one in mind of Bojo - bumptious, egotistical, madly inconsistent, liable to diverge from the ‘actualite’.

What a schemer! With the skill of a snake charmer be brought down the Whig government over the Reform Bill whilst leading the minority party. How did he do that? I’m sure Bojo sees himself as the Disraeli of our times. Unfortunately he is devoid of the great humanity which Disraeli had, in addition to his immense parliamentary abilities.

And, possibly a less attractive aspect of Disraeli that Bojo approves of, Disraeli had no time for democracy.

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I thought it was of Disraeli it was meanly said that when they circumcised him they threw the wrong bit away but I’ve checked and it was said by Lloyd George about Herbert Samuel.

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Colin… if you have not already tried them The Three Body Problem trilogy is an amazing work of imagination. The first book is not an easy read but compelling and fascinating and it gets a lot easier in the second book.
Reminds me a little of The Foundation series (Asimov) another great work.

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Oh are those by that Chinese person whose name temporarily escapes me?

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Liu Cixin with the English translation by Ken Liu, The Three-Body Problem , The Dark Forest and Death’s End.
As Jeremy said the first book is heavy going but I enjoyed the series, they jump around a bit though.

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Another fascinating and thought provoking (recent’ish) book is Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time. Really worth a read.

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Incidentally, and I’m going off piste here slightly, who knew that La Belle Francais could produce such a brilliant, clever, funny, witty and immensely enjoyable series as Call My Agent (Netflix). I am absolutely loving it.
I’m fully preparing myself for the inevitable flak following but in my defence I cannot say I’ve researched other French offerings like this and if anyone (Véronique?) could enlighten moi I would be forever in their debt.

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I’m not a great reader of military history but I’ve just read La Bataille du Vercors 1943 - 44 by Pierre Vial. An object lesson on how an impregnable redoubt can turn into an inescapable prison. It turned up in our village book hutch.

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Just finished rereading some of Libby Purves’s novels. Some beautiful use of language there and great characterisations. She covers quite a few of the same sorts of ideas as Joanna Trollope but better and less resolutely aga-saga-ish

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I have just read ‘The Wild Silence’ by Raynor Winn, the acclaimed author of ‘The Salt Path’.
For all of us who are finding life a bit hard gng at the moment, she and her husband ,Moth, are inspiring.
I got my book on Kindle.