Recommend a Book

Hemingway has great titles for his books. I bought a batch of them a while back and pick one up from time to time. Didn't really pay too much attention to what Death In The Afternoon was actually about but half way through I'm just going to leave it. But, if you're looking for a guide to bullfighting or want to have a good old think about it then it might be for you.
 
The Power and the Glory - A History of the World Cup by Jonathan Wilson.
A wonderful history of each World Cup, taking in the the personalities and dramatic stories of each contest as might be expected, and how the game and tournament evolved, but also how the mood\soul\events of a country impacted what was happening on the field.

Random snippet from the chapter on USA '94:
A national professional league was established in the United States, with Major League Soccer kicking off in 1996. By 2024, it would be ranked the tenth-largest sports league in the world by revenue. MLS, a private company headed by Alan Rothenberg, received $500,000 from World Cup USA, chaired by Alan Rothenberg, to present its business plan to the US Soccer Federation, whose president was Alan Rothenberg. USSF, whose president was Alan Rothenberg, then opted for MLS, headed by Alan Rothenberg, for which it received $3.5 million from World Cup USA, chaired by Alan Rothenberg. But to question that is simply to misunderstand how FIFA works.
 
Last edited:
The warmth of other suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Really enjoyed this. It's quite an epic book so there's a lot of reading here but it's really well written and paints a vivid picture of what the characters went through. It's a story of the Great Migration from the southern states to the northern states from the early twentieth century onwards. I've read a few books around this topic (such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Four Winds by Kristin Hannah). This was definitely bigger in terms of scope and period and more of a historical reflection on the period.
 
GSheehy said:
Hemingway has great titles for his books. I bought a batch of them a while back and pick one up from time to time. Didn't really pay too much attention to what Death In The Afternoon was actually about but half way through I'm just going to leave it.
Click to expand...

I never saw much in Hemingway.

About his best book was A Farewell To Arms and this is no great shakes - juvenilia really.

As for the famed Hemingway prose, gimme a break - it's anti-literary.

Steinbeck's books were a much better bet. If you haven't read it, Tortilla Flat is a classic - and very suitable for our current weather and ensuing lifestyles . . . :cool:
 
Apologies for delay @Ceist Beag

Synopsising books are not my strong point, I'm afraid......although I read quite a lot. I attach the back cover blurb for reference though. Hope that's helpful. If you've read Bad Pharma, or Empire of Pain , this book may be of interest. I was broadly aware of J and J difficulties surrounding cancer and baby powder products and Janssen's problems with their Covid vaccine....but a lot of the rest, including hip replacement product issues, tylenol issues ,and more, was new to me. To me, the book is a well researched and well written and well worth reading. You will form your own judgement afterwards ,if you find it interesting enough to keep you engaged. A helpful feature is that annotations etc are all gathered at the back, so there are no interrupting footnotes or asterisks on each page. For readers wanting a deep-dive ,though, all the stuff is there.
 

Attachments

  • 20261022_115227.webp
    20261022_115227.webp
    203.9 KB · Views: 5
The Three Lives Of The Kaiser

This is not biography - it's just a German football periodical's history of his football life interspersed with many unexplained personal changes, e.g. his love life and money-making schemes,

But it's readily readable and begs a more critical study, a real biography.

Stranger Than Fiction

Michael Crick's bio of Jeffrey Archer. As much a glimpse of politica-l and upper-class follies as it is a bio of oul Jeffrey.

Please wait closer to Xmas as I'd bet a new edition is planned which will tell things Crick couldn't say 25 years ago as he'd sue him.
 
A Silent Death – Peter May - 220 pages of double space - Loads of action. Well written. English good. Plot well researched. MacKenzie a Scotsman and policeman is sent to Costa del Sol to accompany an extradition murderer to the UK. The murderer is sprung by his associates and continues his murderous campaign and extra large cocaine deal. MacKenzie gets seconded to the local police and joins the hunt for the criminal. Some twists and turns, but I'll be reading Peter May again.

Winter in Madrid – CJ Sansom - 535 crammed pages of single space. Very slow build-up (suits me, once I know it's a slow build-up). Madrid during WW2 is a hive of espionage and the fear if Franco will enter the war on the side of the Nazis. British Embassy seeks information on gold deposits which Franco could use as some kind of security for foreign loans. Spain is clearly divided as its Civil War ended just a couple of years earlier with no clear winner and loyalties are more focused on finance rather than nationhood. The planned escape of a British "Red" holds centre to the plot. English used is perfect, plot well enforced and ending probably as such stories end. All-in-all a good slow read. I'll be reading CJ Sansom again too.
 
Reading "The Nord Stream Conspiracy" by Bojan Pancevski at the moment. About 1/3 through and it's fascinating. Reads like a thriller. The first book in a long time that I don't want to finish, as it's so good.
 
The Book of Joe - by Jonathan Tropper - Joe Goffman returns to Bush Falls, Connecticut after residing in New York for 17 years. His father is terminally ill and in a coma in hospital. Joe is a writer and while in Manhattan wrote a best-seller and suddenly found himself financially secure. But the best selling novel named nearly everyone in Bush Falls and any story about them including their sex lives, college history, sporting history etc. Many people in Bush Falls want to the town to be rid of Joe including the local deputy sheriff and his buddy a son of the local crime lord. Joe meets many people he had known and again falls in love with his childhood sweetheart. The local book-club hears of Joe's homecoming and decide in protest to throw their copies of Joe's best-selling novel at the house he is staying. Joe's father dies - End of Part 1.

Joe's former best friend Wayne is homosexual. Wayne's "outed" boyfriend commits suicide by throwing himself into the river and is swept over the falls. Wayne, a former school basketball star carries on and his illness gets progressively worse. Joe re-unites with his former girlfriend now divorced from her marriage. Joe's brother Brad is going through his mid-life crisis and sleeping with the waitress of a local restaurant and is consequently in the throes of separating from his all-star beautiful wife Cindy. Brad's son has inherited some of Joe's desires to be different from the rabble. Joe discovers he has "family" and wants to promote the discovery for himself, at least.

Wayne's parents are ultra Catholic and believe their son is being punished by God through homosexuality and AIDS. Owen, Joe's agent is anxious to have Joe write another novel and chips in by assisting in the care of Wayne. Joe starts writing and is overtaken (again) in his plight of writing. Wayne dies. Joe leaves Bush Falls again for New York.

The book is well written, has a good introduction, a good middle and a good ending. It is a worthwhile read and the "bridging" between chapters is excellent.
 
Leper said:
The Book of Joe - by Jonathan Tropper - Joe Goffman returns to Bush Falls, Connecticut after residing in New York for 17 years. His father is terminally ill and in a coma in hospital. Joe is a writer and while in Manhattan wrote a best-seller and suddenly found himself financially secure. But the best selling novel named nearly everyone in Bush Falls and any story about them including their sex lives, college history, sporting history etc. Many people in Bush Falls want to the town to be rid of Joe including the local deputy sheriff and his buddy a son of the local crime lord. Joe meets many people he had known and again falls in love with his childhood sweetheart. The local book-club hears of Joe's homecoming and decide in protest to throw their copies of Joe's best-selling novel at the house he is staying. Joe's father dies - End of Part 1.

Joe's former best friend Wayne is homosexual. Wayne's "outed" boyfriend commits suicide by throwing himself into the river and is swept over the falls. Wayne, a former school basketball star carries on and his illness gets progressively worse. Joe re-unites with his former girlfriend now divorced from her marriage. Joe's brother Brad is going through his mid-life crisis and sleeping with the waitress of a local restaurant and is consequently in the throes of separating from his all-star beautiful wife Cindy. Brad's son has inherited some of Joe's desires to be different from the rabble. Joe discovers he has "family" and wants to promote the discovery for himself, at least.

Wayne's parents are ultra Catholic and believe their son is being punished by God through homosexuality and AIDS. Owen, Joe's agent is anxious to have Joe write another novel and chips in by assisting in the care of Wayne. Joe starts writing and is overtaken (again) in his plight of writing. Wayne dies. Joe leaves Bush Falls again for New York.

The book is well written, has a good introduction, a good middle and a good ending. It is a worthwhile read and the "bridging" between chapters is excellent.
Click to expand...

Based on your summation, there's just too many sub-plots in this. And a lot of them clichéd.

It might be better to focus on the main theme: a successful author returning to his home town and seeing how locals react to him - some based on how they saw him when young, others no doubt based on his present fame, liquidity and utility to them.

There's enough in that for a good novel if written well. As for the sex lives of townspeople - God help us, if any author finally writes about the humble realities of sex it really will be a global bestseller.
 
Under the Harrow - Flynn Berry - Her first novel. Rachel is murdered and Nora discovers her body and that of her German Shepherd dog which was hanging from a banister. Rachael was assaulted as a seventeen year old and the culprit was never apprehended by the police. Consequently, Rachael and Nora do not have a great opinion of official policework. Under the Harrow is 220 pages of double spacing. Chapters are short and in a few hours you could read the whole book. It would be ideal companion on a Ryanair flight to the Canary Islands where the person(s) sitting next to you is commandeering the two arm rests. It is a good read with a few twists. It flows well and a worthwhile read.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top