Books - What are you reading?

It was big in college back in the 90s..wasn’t there a film?

There was, with Ben Wishaw as Grenouille.

Ah shit, maybe I'm not as off piste and cultured as I first thought.

Any good?

No idea. I generally avoid film adaptations of books I like as they are inevitably underwhelming.

A good policy.

Just downloaded. Thanks for the recommendation.

Currently reading The Beaver Theory by ANTTI. TUOMAINEN.

I love his writing. He’s got this really nonchalent way of writing, which I enjoy.

Looking for an introduction to European political history, any recommendations?

Which period? Pretty chunky topic. Hobsbawm's "Age of..." books will take you from 1789 to 1991 if you're looking for something that will give you the broad sweep of modern European history.

When was Marxism a thing?

Um. Do you mean "When did it emerge?", :"Over what period was it a powerful political movement?" or something else? Marxism is still a thing, by at least some definitions of thing. If this is your primary motivation for looking into European history, @eejit 's suggestion is still a good one, but what exactly are you after?

Mid-1800's onwards. Where Marxism stops being a thing is highly debateable. I guess most people would say fall of the Berlin Wall, but you could argue for earlier than that.

Nice. Maybe I'm interested in the roots of the system(s) in play today

I'd start in 1789 with the French Revolution. It's widely regarded as the starting point for Modern European history. Obvs all these distinctions are arbitrary, but a lot of stuff happens in and around that time that you can still see having an impact 150 years - and further - down the line.

👍

I'm currently reading the second Earthsea book, after a long hiatus since reading the first.

My kids are currently having a Studio Ghibli phase and want to watch Tales From Earthsea. Should I delay watching this until I've read the books its a sort of mash-up of?

Late to the party with Robert Harris

Following swiftly on from reading his Blair tinged Ghost, and now on Fatherland.

Compelling stuff.

I would wait until finishing the original trilogy. The stories in the book/film Tales From Earthsea aren't exactly spoilers, but they're a response to (and attempt to make up for) the pronounced internalised misogyny of the earlier books, and make more sense read after them. I loved the trilogy as a child and still do, but even as a kid I found the "Weak as women's magic, wicked as women's magic" stuff odd.

I regret reading the late fourth novel in the series and wish I could forget I had. A good book needs more than regret for past mistakes. "Tales from Earthsea" is a lot better than Tehanu.

perfume is fantastic. Glad you found that little known gem.

Big fan of Vonnegut too. I would say he was consistently excellent up to and including Bluebeard. His last couple after that tailed off.

I bought and read J D Vance's book because it was on the Economist's recommendation list that year. Probably their worst of their recommendations ever. Vapid, bland and failing to deliver anything of substance. Now it turns out that the very same book may have been what secured him his VP nominee role.

Vapid, bland and failing to deliver anything of substance

Did you just describe trump

Trump may be vapid and substanceless but he is anything but bland.

Gone back to re-reading all the Ian Rankin Rebus books, starting with Knotts and Crosses.

Going Postal

A non cycling book for a change, not a Lance biography.