What books are you reading?

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Sherdog

 

[davidlemonparty]

S

sounds right up my alley, will check it out. Cheers.

Your user name is remarkably relevant

 

[Meatspin]

Your user name is remarkably relevant

Haha thanks <45>

 

[WadeWatts]

Not as good as his first book Living with a Seal but it was still alright

 

[triptych]

I had already bought s copy of my friend's new book, but it lay nearly forgotten on the shelf !! I had a copy signed by Prystauk and hopefully, his signature will induce me to at least start reading the first chapter

 

[cmw43]

The latest Red Rising novel, I got into the series after a Sherdogger made a thread on it a few years back.

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

The latest Red Rising novel, I got into the series after a Sherdogger made a thread on it a few years back.

Finished this recently as well. Great follow up to Dark Age. I loved Dark Age, but it was brutal as hell. My wife is reading the series too and she almost didn't finish it. Sucks having to wait for the final installment, but thought I read it was mostly written and there isn't going to be a long wait for the finale.

 

[WadeWatts]

Came away from it feeling like I don't actually have any horrible addictions, so that was good.

 

[WadeWatts]

 

[WadeWatts]

 

[WadeWatts]

 

[Rimbaud82]

Anna Keay’s The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown

Having just recently read Jonathan Healey’s new history of revolutionary England, I thought it would be good to tackle this one next. I was impressed with Healey’s, which provides a well-written overview of the whole century. Not dry, but certainly academic in how it synthesises various political, social, and economic trends. That’s not a criticism of course, but evidently the two books are doing two different things. Keay’s focus is considerably more narrow in both chronological and analytical terms.

Eschewing a conventional political narrative, The Restless Republic deals with the turbulent years of 1649-60 through the lives of particular individuals or families. It brings out the real-life, human personalities of this period. Not just a dour Puritan “Interregnum” waiting for a Restoration, but a vibrant period in which real people lived and fought and died, and - not least - discussed and debated all manner of social, political and religious ideas.

We have well-known figures such as Gerard Winstanley and, of course, the Cromwells. Both well-known in very different ways of course. However, Keay also deals with other disparate figures such as John Bradshaw, the mild-mannered Cheshire lawyer who found himself presiding over the trial of the king; Anna Trapnel, a woman of independent means who became a religious visionary; Marchamont Nedham, a flamboyant bon vivant who pioneered modern journalism, escaped from prison and ultimately switched sides to become the Republic’s arch-propagandist; and William Petty, the innovative English scientist who found himself in charge of the incredibly ambitious mapping project which prefigured the Cromwellian land settlement of Ireland.

There are several others too, including the L’Estranges - a historic royalist family from Norfolk, and the Stanleys (especially Margaret, countess of Derby) who clung on to the Isle of Man on behalf of the Royalists for as long as possible. The book interweaves these personal accounts with the political history, showing how they variously were impacted by these events, reconciled themselves to them, or of course in some cases how they themselves impacted upon them. Also at times showing how these seperate narratives could at times intersect with one another.

I have to say I found The Restless Republic to be much more impressive than Healey’s Blazing World. Keay’s grasp on the political and religious developments of the period are perhaps somewhat lacking in contrast, but that’s almost besides the point. It is less interpretive and more atmospheric, but no worse for it even with those caveats. It brings these years to life in such an incredibly vivid and imaginative way that can be missed in more comprehensive histories. For an introduction to this period, this is definitely where I would start. Easily the best I’ve read this side of Christopher Hill’s The World Turned Upside Down (from the 1970s).

 

[Sonny Qc]

Arturo Gatti biography

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

 

[sleepwalk]

Captains Outrageous. A Hap and Leonard novel by Joe Lansdale. I've really gotten into pulp type stuff lately.

 

[scorpiorising]

Hitler: Ascent (part1)
Hitler: Decent(part2)

 

[Sobek]

Manvotionals - Brett Mckay

Kokoda - Paul Ham

Just finished Iron Man (Tony Iommi) which was quite good.

 

[WadeWatts]

This was really good. If you liked Let My People Go Surfing give this a shot, these guys lived awesome lives

 

[Meatspin]

This was really good. If you liked Let My People Go Surfing give this a shot, these guys lived awesome lives

Yup the Patagonia founder book was good so I’m in

 

[Spam On Rye]

Just finished rereading Notes From Underground and reading Flannery O'Connor short stories, The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis, and The Gulag Archipelago.

I am forever reading The Orthodox Study Bible.