A few days ago, I finished reading The Shortest History of Italy, by Ross King. It's fair, but short (which, to be fair, is what it's supposed to be). My current book is The Shortest History of Japan, by Lesley Downer. I've read other books on Japanese history, but they mostly centered on the Edo period and the Tokugawa regime (which, to be fair, is when Japan experienced its longest period of peace). Coming up next is The Shortest History of Sicily, by John Julius Norwich -- an author I very much admire for his clarity and prose. I also recommend his History of Byzantium and Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy, both of which I own. (Note: if you can find them, try to get the history of Byzantium in three volumes: The Early Centuries, The Apogee, The Decline and Fall. If not, A Short History of Byzantium will do just as well. I own them both). Why do I recommend them? Because Byzantium is a vital part of the story of Europe, coming as it does between fall of the Roman Empire and the start of the Renaissance. Besides, it's also a cracking story! Wicked emperors and scheming empresses, bloodthirsty crusaders and cruel generals, chariot races, religious upheaval, and battles against the odds. What's not to love?
Currently listening: Paul of Dune. Look, it was on Audible Plus and I like the original Dune novels. And although I have tried the Brian and Kev spinoffs and found them to be much lesser novels than the source material they were based on, I wanted to give this one a go. Flesh out the time between Dune and Dune Messiah? Oh, go on then. I'm sorry to report it's not been a successful gamble. Even allowing for the fact that it's not going to have the philosophy and depth of the originals, it just isn't great. Characters acting out of character, in particular. I do know I would have enjoyed it more had it not had that label 'Dune', but I'm sorry to say it's just not up to the legacy of the originals in my view. I have about 3 hours of it left. And my goodness, I cannot wait to have it done despite Scott Brick's excellent narration. Currently reading: The Second Rumpole Omnibus. Cross PG Wodehouse with the Old Bailey, all while chucking in a pseudo-Falstaff. And you've pretty much got Horace Walpole, a barrister of the very old school. Thoroughly enjoyable. Also reading Basil D'Oliveira: Cricket and Conspiracy: The Untold Story. The story of one of the most notable cricketers of the twentieth century. As a non-white man in Apartheid-era South Africa, his chances were limited; despite being one of (if not the) most talented cricketers of his generation he was never going to be picked for South Africa's Test side. Every day he and his contemporaries faced discrimination. At 28, he joined Middleton in the Lancashire League, flying to England. Six years later, a British citizen by now, he belatedly started his Test cricket career - for England. He'd go on to win 44 Test caps, averaging over 40 with the bat and 35 with the ball. But he's best remembered as being the subject of controversy in 1968, when the MCC named the English touring party for the South Africa series. The repercussions of his non-selection would isolate South Africa from the sporting world for a quarter of a century and genuinely play a part in bringing an end to Apartheid as a result of the international ostracism that the regime faced.
I hate to say it, but audible plus selections have been disappointing in the best case, and pure crap in many others. It makes me wonder if someone in marketing isn't trying to breathe life into stories that should have been left to die in obscurity.
Agreed. In my experience, audiobooks from Naxos Publishing (for one) are excellent. Audible just grabbed all the headlines. Maybe Audible should die in obscurity.
Another good option is podiobooks, now scribl.com They serialize audio books and are free, or used to be not sure about any other changes with the name change. I know of atleast one author who build his audience doing his own audiobooks that way.
I think it might depend on where you are in the world. I just finished Paul of Dune (thank goodness), and moved on to something far more substantial: The Prime Ministers We Never Had. There's also The Queen's Gambit and Johnson at 10 in the tranche I've just walloped into my library for future listening, along with a couple of interesting-looking ones about the NASA Apollo programme (one by a certain Gene Kranz). Certainly here in the UK the selection can be very good.
My dad lent that to me and it's sitting on my shelf for a month. I haven't exactly been itching to read it. Skip it?
Hmm -- didn't the BBC also make audiobooks as well as radio dramas? I seem to recall that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy started its life as a BBC radio drama. I've also listened to the BBC dramatisations of Agatha Christie books, Shakespeare plays, and Terry Pratchett books -- they were very, very good. Does the BBC still make radio dramas? I'm sure they do, but I'm just curious. We don't get the Beeb down here in Australia.
Hitch hikers started life as a book… the bbc radio drama was its first dramatisation and dramatically boosted its sales incidentally you can get all the beeb stations over the internet anywhere in the world ( excepting those countries who block it like North Korea or Iran)
It did?? *looks it up* Sorry, Big Soft Moose: not according to wikipedia. On the wiki-page, it says that the radio series was broadcast in 1978, but the book didn't come out until 1979. Sorry. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to get the Beeb down here in Australia. Oh well.
You’re quite right the radio play came first and Adam’s then adapted his script into the first book They must have repeated the radio play a number of times as I remember hearing it when I was a teenager and I’m not that old
This goes into the things I learned today column. Never heard the radio broadcast nor seen the movie. Great books though.
I think it's available on YouTube. (Everything is available on YouTube). Yep - and as a bonus, it also starred the same voice actors as on the radio show (or some of them, anyway). And it's also on YouTube. Ah, YouTube scallywags.
Lots of naval history lately. I’m currently working my way through Ian W. Toll’s Pacific War trilogy. The other day, I finished off Pacific Crucible, and I just started The Conquering Tide.
You may like this book, X Equesteris: Great Naval Blunders. It's a fairly easy read, well-researched, but doesn't need any prior knowledge. At slightly less than 200 pages, it's not a long read, either.
The Atlas Complex, third in the sequel of a gripping fantasy story, where medians have unusual supernatural abilities each different and unusually magical.
There is a little near the end of Pacific Crucible. Mostly related to the bombing of Dutch Harbor and the initial Japanese landings on Attu and Kiska, though there’s not a ton of detail since the narrative of the final chapters is focused on Midway. I’m hoping for more on the Aleutians Campaign in The Conquering Tide, though Guadalcanal looks to be its focus for quite a while.
Finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, and I've got a few others to finish before I jump into my next excursion, but after those are done, I'm going to read E. M. Cioran's The Temptation to Exist.
I'm currently reading The Dream Weavers by Barbara Erskine. I'm on page 80, the start of chapter 11. There's 499 pages altogether!
I'm about 85% of the way through The Lathe of Heaven (by Ursula K. Le Guin). It's great so far. Not my favorite of hers, but I've been enjoying the pacing. Incidentally, right before this I read Slaughterhouse-Five for the first time. I don't know if it's recency bias, but I feel like the fact that Lathe of Heaven came out only two years later is not coincidence... Lots of similarities, IMO. (Though still very different books.)
I am currently reading The Institute by Stephen King as inspiration for a sci-fi story I'm writing. I have a tendency to alternate from story to story. As odd as it sounds to juggle stories, it keeps me interested. I would recommend the institute as the plot is interesting. It focuses on a facility that houses kids with telekinetic abilities. Most of them do not go there by choice. King knows how to alternate from genre-to-genre and still maintain a consistent voice and style.
