Read:
England Under the Tudors by Geoffrey Elton. Two interesting characters in there: An unexpectedly modern Thomas Cromwell and best among equal Elisabeth I. Grating style, unfortunately, but need-to-be-read story. Perhaps by a pen less in the neck?
Reading:
Oliver Cromwell by Antonia Fraser (1973?). Riding sweet-shod on a rough material. Achieves ambivalence throughout. Nice read.
EB
[quote=“sandman”]
So I should start with?[/quote]
I’d suggest you go for “In the Pond” as a starter.
Read Bill Jenning’s The Tyranny of History recently. Excellent perspectives on Chinese history.
How do you guys have time to post all day and read.
I’ve been spending so much time downloading movies - um I mean ordering and paying for movies - that I have to struggle to remember what I last read. Maybe Formosan Oddessy by John Ross. That was a good read. Before that was probably About a Boy by Nick Hornby which was really good.
Brian
Achtung! Achtung! Summon the censorship police!
Just finished “A Beautiful Mind” by Sylvia Nasar
“How could you,” began (Harvard professor George) Mackey, “how could you, a mathematician, a man devoted to reason and logical proof…how could you belive that extraterrestrials are sending you messages? How could you believe that you are being recruited by aliens from outer space to save the world? How could you…?”
(John) Nash looked up at last and fixed Mackey with an unblinking stare as cool and dispassionate as that of any bird or snake. “Because,” Nash said slowly in his soft, reasonable southern drawl, as if talking to himself, “the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did. So I took them serioulsy.”
Just started “Headhunter” by Timothy Findley (inspired by Toe Save)
“On a winter’s day, while a blizzard raged through the streets of Toronto, Lilah Kemp inadvertently set Kurtz free from page 92 of Heart of Darkness. Horror-stricken, she tried to force him back between the covers. The escape took place at the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library, where Lilah Kemp sat reading beside the rock pool. She had not even said come forth, but there Kurtz stood before her, framed by the woven jungle of cotton trees and vines that passed for botanic atmosphere.”
Superbike magazine, june.
I’ve just finished the helmet technology chapter. I’ll skip the Ducati test and go for the half-naked centerfold on a big Suz.
Gosh, do I lower the general level of the thread or what? 
Taurus
I like this thread a lot, because I am going to write down some of the titles and start reading those.
I just finished Lucky by Alice Sebold, pretty inspiring. I am reading Harry Potter III now… 
[quote=“Taurus”]Superbike magazine, June.
I’ve just finished the helmet technology chapter. I’ll skip the Ducati test and go for the half-naked centerfold on a big Suz.
Gosh, do I lower the general level of the thread or what?
Taurus[/quote]
Oh dear oh dear! I better raise the tone a bit. I’m reading Platform by Michel Houellebecq
A book which according to the Sunday Times “should divide intelligent people into those who have and haven’t read it.” So there. Plus, it has loads and loads of very dirty bits.
Zen,
I like your idea of posting a particular passage from your current reading material. I’m currently re-reading The Golden Bough…
Reminds me sometimes of my own experiences in Taiwan… 
[quote=“sandman”][quote=“Taurus”]Superbike magazine, June.
I’ve just finished the helmet technology chapter. I’ll skip the Ducati test and go for the half-naked centerfold on a big Suz.
Gosh, do I lower the general level of the thread or what?
Taurus[/quote]
Oh dear oh dear! I better raise the tone a bit. I’m reading Platform by Michel Houellebecq
A book which according to the Sunday Times “should divide intelligent people into those who have and haven’t read it.” So there. Plus, it has loads and loads of very dirty bits.[/quote]
Sandman, let’s swap when you’re done. I have DARK STAR SAFARI. The book you mention is the very same one I mentioned in my very first post.
Just finished “Wind up Bird Chronicle” Murakami yesterday. God, that was weird. There’s apparantly this Japanese obsession with wells. Saw The Ring just other day and I couldn’t get over the ‘well’ parallel with Murakami. The Ring was Japanese, originally, yes?
Am reading “Mother Tongue” by Bill Bryson now, and will start reading “Order of the Phoenix” on Monday.
I have “Jude the Obscure” and some Maeve Binchy thing to read on holiday next month. Won’t carry HP like Imaniou is. Too bloody heavy.
Sure thing. I didn’t notice Platform in your original post though – am I missing something? Also, what’s Dark Star Safari about?
It’s Theroux going overland from Cairo to Cape Town, making observations, some not so PC, but that are always interesting.
At the end though, if one were a South African especially, it is quite obvious that he has a good understanding of Africa. One does, however, get the impression that as he spent almost several year in Malawi and Uganda during the sixties, in his youth and during Africa’s optismistic “Winds Of Change” period, that his remarks are somewhat bitter, not so much because he cares for Africa, but because he cares about the Africa he has lost.
I mention Platforme in my very second post on Forumosa.
That sounds good and it ties in nicely, as (thanks Poagao) I recently read his The Pillars of Hercules (a journey round the Med) and Jupiter’s Travels (journal of a round-the-world motorcycle trip in the mid-70s) by Ted Simon, much of which is devoted to Africa.
Well well, you did indeed refer to Platform. I got it just last week in Fnac, in hardback. I think its wonderful and now I wish I’d also bought Atomized, which they have in p’back.
Tigerman are you reading the abridged or full 12 volume edition? I’ve read the abridged (at 800 so pages) but those in the know say it is not the same as the full edition.
The abridged.
I suppose those in the know would know best
Actually, I’m just going thru it this time and reading parts in no particular order.
And check this out:
[quote=“sandman”]Oh dear oh dear! I better raise the tone a bit. I’m reading Platform by Michel Houellebecq
A book which according to the Sunday Times “should divide intelligent people into those who have and haven’t read it.” So there. Plus, it has loads and loads of very dirty bits. [/quote]
I’m still struggling with Mondo, Man of Violence. I forget what the Sunday Times said about it, but I bet they loved it. I bet it divided even more intellectuals than your dumb book, Sandy. :?
Trying to read Iris’ copy of La Petite Tailleuse Chinoise in French, but it’s a struggle since 4 years of French literature in college has turned me vehemently against reading in that language. Since I tend to read several books at a time, I have recently read Homeless Bird (a novel about a 13-year-old Indian widow and her ordeals in India), Grimm’s Fairy Tales Anthology, The Witch Must Die (a book on the psychology of fairy tales), and Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. I am also re-reading the Narnia Chronicles periodically and am now on The Voyage on Dawn Treader. Yep, I think that’s it.
What on earth are you on about Maoman? I fail to see the connection.