What are you reading?

[Swatopluk]

The Thoughtful Dresser ~ Linda Grant

Is that a novel or a fashion book? 

Any relation to "The Sovereign Reader"?

[Griffin NoName]

The Thoughtful Dresser ~ Linda Grant

Is that a novel or a fashion book? 

Any relation to "The Sovereign Reader"?

I know nothing about The Sovereign Reader.

I thought it was a novel when I bought it. Linda Grant's novels are brilliant. It turns out this one isn't a novel. It's a treatise on clothes with chapters called things like "Our Fabric Friends" and "The Cloak of Invisibiliy". Quite interesting apart from the wish that it was one of her novels.

[Swatopluk]

I thought of The Uncommon Reader actually (the German title translates as The Sovereign Reader) but found out that TSR is (in English) the title of another book. It's also about The Queen but Victoria not Elizabeth II.

[Griffin NoName]

The Uncommon Reader is ace.

The clothes book finishes with a chapter on Auschwitz. It was worth getting to that; v. interesting.

[Aggie]

Gargantua and Pantagruel.


Smutty, smutty book(s), who knew 16th century literature could be so fun?

[Swatopluk]

I read Gargantua once. I wonder whether it landed on the index librorum prohibitorum for poking fun at scholastic philosophy etc.
And it was considered to be extremly vulgar at the time (one reason for its huge success, I presume).
The edition I had was heavily annotated and I think that is necessary or most of the jokes will not even be noticed yb a modern reader.

[Pachyderm]

A biography of Pablo Escobar, written with the assistance of his brother.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Let me know what you think of it (both the book and the life of the guy). I could tell you a number of things about that period back home and more...

[beagle]

Still reading 70 year old Telegraph articles (slow reader) and a book on Linq.

[Swatopluk]

Should I read old articles from Der Völkische Beobachter (the populist observer) to match that?

[Pachyderm]

It is a bit "Pablo was great", but that's hardly unexpected given it's his brother. He does make the point that Pablo was responsible for a lot of nastiness, but also that he got blamed for a lot of stuff he didn't do, he was just the big name at the time, which is realistic. And he doesn't try to hide the fact that he was dealing drugs (difficult to do), but also gave a lot to the poor of Columbia. It seems to be a relatively honest appraisal of the life and times of a very complex man, living through some interesting times. Still don't like him, though.

Now reading A Concise History of Ireland.

[Griffin NoName]

Still reading 70 year old Telegraph articles (slow reader).....

Aren't the current ones right wing enough for you? 

A Darker Domain Val McDermid*


* Billed as the creator of TV's Wire in the Blood series......  irritating..... I discovered her books long before and have read all the originals of the Wire in the Blood stuff........ does an author lose brownie points when they become associated with TV?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

It is a bit "Pablo was great", but that's hardly unexpected given it's his brother. He does make the point that Pablo was responsible for a lot of nastiness, but also that he got blamed for a lot of stuff he didn't do, he was just the big name at the time, which is realistic. And he doesn't try to hide the fact that he was dealing drugs (difficult to do), but also gave a lot to the poor of Columbia. It seems to be a relatively honest appraisal of the life and times of a very complex man, living through some interesting times. Still don't like him, though.

Nastiness doesn't cover it. Having gone through the time when he and his buddy Rodriguez Gacha set off bombs as if those were pyrotechniques and the death of Galan* (in which he was involved but not the only one) is hard to believe that there are always fresh flowers in his tomb. He certainly gave to the poor although that was mostly when he was running for congress (you can draw your own conclusions). What I can tell you (and don't know if the book covers) is that things those days were quite convoluted, with broken deals, betrayals, etc, etc, bringing every sector of society "together".

* you could consider the guy our Kennedy although he didn't reach the presidency.
--
The latest issue of Scientific American

[Pachyderm]

Planning Policy Statement 2: Planning and Nature Conservation

[beagle]

The Torygraph's special supplement celebrating Darwin and promoting the film about him.

(Spot the difference between UK and US rightwingers...)