W/NW what are you reading right now?

[SoCalCS]

I love a good read. History, music related, art, biographies. Pretty much non fiction. I like to sit outside when the world is quiet with a coffee or a drink and a cigar and immerse in some good page turning.

What are you reading right now?

I’m enjoying this book for a second time.

 

[Jonathan Lewenhaupt]

"It", by Stephen King.

 

[Rayt]

Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War

By Max Hastings

 

[Out to Lunch]

It Can't Happen Here

By Sinclair Lewis

 

[mrtoml]

I generally have 2 books on the go. One for daytime reading and one for my nighttime reading on the Kobo.

Currently The Shadow Over Innsmouth by HP Lovecraft
and
A Song for Dark Times by Ian Rankin

 

[valdas]

Technofeudalism. What killed capitalism. By Yanis Varoufakis.
It is not that I am in his camp, but I like to see different perspectives/theories, be it Marx or Friedman.

 

[peterm1]

I am seriously into history and have been doing a lot of reading on the subject of modern Japanese history - essentially from the Edo period through the Mei Restoration ultimately to WW2. Two books that fall into this general category include the following:

"Shogun-The Life and Times of Tokugawa Ieyasu" by A.L. Sadler a biographical account of the rise of this great leader and;

"Government by Assassination" by Hugh Byas The latter describes the post WW1 period in Japan which was a period marked by assassinations, attempted assassinations and attempted military coups in that country, not to mention some highly aggressive foreign affairs policy and several wars - including the big one.

I have also been reading about other historical subjects and personages:

"Winston Churchill - The Struggle for Survival" by Lord Moran. Moran was Churchill's personal physician and accompanied him throughout the war and hence was in a good position to give a more intimate view of the man

and also;

"Monash - The Outsider who Won a War." A biographical account of this great Australian leader who was widely acknowledged as the best allied general on the Western Front in WW1. I have previously read another biography of Monash and it is always good to compare the interpretations and judgments made by different writers.

When reading history, when the going gets heavy I will often swap from one book to another as the mood takes me. The fact of the matter is that it is sometimes difficult to maintain high levels of interest in biographies as certain events and periods can be more or less inherently interesting, so interest levels wax and wane.

Many other books await me as I tend to pick up promising books second hand and tuck them away for future reading when the opportunity affords itself. All of which reminds me that I am also 2/3 the way through "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan" by Herbert Bix. One risk of doing as I suggested above of reading a few books at a time is that occasionally a book can be forgotten about and not picked up again. I must get back into this one so I can find out who won the war in the Pacific. 😆😆

 

[Rick Waldroup]

"The Second Coming" by Garth Risk Hallberg. I started it a couple of months ago but had to put it aside for a while. I just now started it back up.

 

[JoeV]

“The Fall of Hyperion” by Dan Simmons.

 

[Harry the K]

The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold by Tim Moore.​

Musings and meanderings while riding along the ex iron curtain on a 20" foldable shopping bike made in GDR. Just brillant.

 

[mrtoml]

I'm in a crime novel mood at the moment.
Peter May, The Blackhouse.
Jussi Adler-Olsen, Mercy.

 

[Harry the K]

I'm in a crime novel mood at the moment.
Peter May, The Blackhouse.
Jussi Adler-Olsen, Mercy.

Ordered The Chess Men by Peter May recently.

 

[mrtoml]

Ordered The Chess Men by Peter May recently.

Have you read the whole series? I am enjoying the first one so far. About half way now.

 

[KoNickon]

How to Feed the World: The History and Future of Food, by Vaclav Smil (for a book group -- pretty dense and a slog, but he knows whereof he speaks)

Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland and Labrador, by John Gimlette (a little quirky, but evocative and enlightening)

Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, by Donald L. Miller (despite the macho title, an excellent and thorough history)

 

[Richard G]

David Deutsch. The Fabric of Reality.
MHF Wilkins. The Third Man of the Double Helix.

 

[Richard G]

How to Feed the World: The History and Future of Food, by Vaclav Smil (for a book group -- pretty dense and a slog, but he knows whereof he speaks)

Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland and Labrador, by John Gimlette (a little quirky, but evocative and enlightening)

Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, by Donald L. Miller (despite the macho title, an excellent and thorough history)

Anything by Vaclav Smil is worth reading. I can guess in the book you’re reading he wouldn’t rate all your friends eating dinner regularly without diesel fuel.

 

[Harry the K]

Have you read the whole series? I am enjoying the first one so far. About half way now.

I´m intending to. The Chess Men was available on booklooker, so I started with this (and hope they make sense for each alone). Kind of preparing our summer holiday in Scotland, 6 nights on the Outer Hebrides, among other places.

 

[boojum]

Working on Ambivalent Allies a learned study of Canadian-American relations from the origins of each nation to pretty much the present. One author I know to be really smart, Randall, who was my grad advisor so I am biased. And doing grad work in Montréal has influenced my perspectives on these questions.

It is not so difficult a read for me, better written than most historical studies, and because I am a little bit weird, interesting. You might gag on it. If this interests you this book is about as good a discourse on the subject available. Randall's CV is pretty deep. Or, he ain't no sleepy farmer.

I will go back to my beloved Marvel Comics when I finish the book. ;o)

 

[KoNickon]

On a very related, narrower topic, I recently picked up The Good Allies: How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism During the Second World War, by Tim Cook. (I know; that's a ridiculously long subtitle.) It was published in 2024, before it became necessary to remind certain persons "south of the border" of the importance of this relationship. Not that those persons would care.