History, still wading through Shelby Foote's history of the American Civil War and Churchill's personal history of WWII.

Jazz books too.

Re-reading 'The Strange Death of Liberal England' by George Dangerfield.

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

Film Noir Buff wrote:

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

I read that entire series and found it to be a waste of time. I remember almost nothing about it and was stunned to recently (re-)discover that the series contains 20 volumes. Did I really read twenty books of soap opera and disjointed storylines? Good lord.

If you want to read thrilling 'age of sail' action scenes, written by an actual sailor, then Julian Stockwin is a hundred times better (at least in his first five books). Unfortunately, his more recent books are not keeping up to early promise and some of the storylines are frankly stolen from O'Brien (who did some lifting of his own).

*****

I am currently trudging through the Cambridge Ancient History, volumes 8 through 12 (halfway through volume 9). It's a great read: well written and at times very witty, and the lessons to be drawn for the modern world are useful. I have Norwich's classic three volume history of the 'Byzantine' empire on order.

Big Tony wrote:

Film Noir Buff wrote:

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

I read that entire series and found it to be a waste of time. I remember almost nothing about it and was stunned to recently (re-)discover that the series contains 20 volumes. Did I really read twenty books of soap opera and disjointed storylines? Good lord.

If you want to read thrilling 'age of sail' action scenes, written by an actual sailor, then Julian Stockwin is a hundred times better (at least in his first five books). Unfortunately, his more recent books are not keeping up to early promise and some of the storylines are frankly stolen from O'Brien (who did some lifting of his own).

*****

I am currently trudging through the Cambridge Ancient History, volumes 8 through 12 (halfway through volume 9). It's a great read: well written and at times very witty, and the lessons to be drawn for the modern world are useful. I have Norwich's classic three volume history of the 'Byzantine' empire on order.

A waste of time? I dont think Im reading this book to achieve anything useful. It's an audio book btw. I will check out Stockwin.

Anthony Julius' History of Anti-Semitism in England

Kevin Baker - Dreamland

PG Wodehouse - Leave it to Psmith

Gatley on Defamation

Maximilien de Robespierre wrote:

Big Tony wrote:

I am currently trudging through the Cambridge Ancient History, volumes 8 through 12 (halfway through volume 9). It's a great read: well written and at times very witty, and the lessons to be drawn for the modern world are useful. I have Norwich's classic three volume history of the 'Byzantine' empire on order.

Norwich is fun, but he pulls the pork in many places.  Warren Treadgold's A History of the Byzantine State and Society is still the best one-volume study of that country not for old men - although it is probably longer than all of Norwich's trilogy combined.  Ostrogorsky is still worth reading, but Treadgold has supplanted him. John Haldon's many volumes are very good, but they tend to be more specialized and less readable than Treadgold.  (Apparently Treadgold and Haldon hate one another; a fine example of that perennial antipathy, odium scholasticum.)  J.B. Bury and A.H.M Jones's studies of early Byzantium remain classics, if you can find the complete works.  Hell, Gibbon is still pretty good on Byzantium, and you can't beat the prose.  For specialists,  Averil Cameron published a monograph some years ago on the Circus factions, which is a fascinating study, and one that clearly explains that obscure engine of controversy and intrigue in late antiquity.

I have read Ostrogorsky and have it sitting on my shelf right now (pulled it out of deep storage, which was a strenuous physical chore). I'm glad you mentioned Treadgold: I was thinking of buying his book, but the cost is pretty steep, at least at amazon.ca, and I was wondering if it is worth it; it certainly appears to have excellent maps.

I had forgotten about Bury and Jones; I will look them up; probably not much chance of finding copies, though.

Last edited by Big Tony (2011-03-03 16:31:24)

Big Tony wrote:

Maximilien de Robespierre wrote:

Big Tony wrote:

I am currently trudging through the Cambridge Ancient History, volumes 8 through 12 (halfway through volume 9). It's a great read: well written and at times very witty, and the lessons to be drawn for the modern world are useful. I have Norwich's classic three volume history of the 'Byzantine' empire on order.

Norwich is fun, but he pulls the pork in many places.  Warren Treadgold's A History of the Byzantine State and Society is still the best one-volume study of that country not for old men - although it is probably longer than all of Norwich's trilogy combined.  Ostrogorsky is still worth reading, but Treadgold has supplanted him. John Haldon's many volumes are very good, but they tend to be more specialized and less readable than Treadgold.  (Apparently Treadgold and Haldon hate one another; a fine example of that perennial antipathy, odium scholasticum.)  J.B. Bury and A.H.M Jones's studies of early Byzantium remain classics, if you can find the complete works.  Hell, Gibbon is still pretty good on Byzantium, and you can't beat the prose.  For specialists,  Averil Cameron published a monograph some years ago on the Circus factions, which is a fascinating study, and one that clearly explains that obscure engine of controversy and intrigue in late antiquity.

I have read Ostrogorsky and have it sitting on my shelf right now (pulled it out of deep storage, which was a strenuous physical chore). I'm glad you mentioned Treadgold: I was thinking of buying his book, but the cst is pretty steep, at least at amazon.ca, and I was wondering if it is worth it; it certainly appears to have excellent maps.

I had forgotten about Bury and Jones; I will look them up; probably not much chance of finding copies, though.

An abridged version of Bury is easy to find, but the full, 1889 text is a bitch to track down, even in university libraries.  Jones' full study costs a fortune, when you can find it.

Last edited by Maximilien de Robespierre (2011-03-03 18:36:29)

Maximilien de Robespierre wrote:

And abridged version of Bury is easy to find, but the full, 1889 text is a bitch to track down, even in university libraries.  Jones' full study costs a fortune, when you can find it.

I will stick with the more mainstream writers, then.
I'm not reading this stuff for a degree or anything.

Listening in my car to Ron Chernow's Biography of Alexander Hamilton - Fantastic Book

Reading

Walking in a Fergie Wonderland  (Yes it is pulp, but I will read anything on Manchester United)

The Alienest by Caleb Carr  I wanted to read this when it came out but didn't and it was the first book I purchased on my kindle.

I will read anything

Current Library borrowings - cut and paste:


Outliers : the story of success   
The tower       
All along the watchtower       
Homecoming    11 Mar 2011   
Guilt about the past    11 Mar 2011   
Self's murder : a Gerhard Self mystery   
The day of the Jack Russell   
The highly civilized man : Richard Burton and the Victorian world   
Sir Richard Burton : a biography   
Shirtmaking [text] : developing skills for fine sewing       
Consider the lobster and other essays       
The diaries of Kenneth Tynan [text]   
Darkly dreaming Dexter   
Moab is my washpot   
Infinite jest [text] : a novel   
The King's speech how one man saved the British monarchy   
Red : China's Cultural Revolution   
Self's deception   
Pirates of the 21st century   
The making and breaking of affectional bonds   
King George VI : 1895-1952   
The Fry chronicles   
Flights of love [text]   
The English countrywoman : her life in farmhouse and field from Tudor times to the Victorian age   
The Oxford history of the biblical world [text]   
Café republic of Australia : sights, stories & flavours of café culture   
Belfast confidential   
Hey Joe [text]   
The reader   
The Old Testament : a very short introduction   
Forensic psychology : a very short introduction   
You are here : why we can find our way to the Moon but get lost in the mall
Harvard business review   
Dead aid : destroying the biggest global myth of our time   
The clash of fundamentalisms [text] : crusades, Jihads and modernity   
Hi-fi news [magazine]Melbourne : the making of a drinking and eating capital
MAY 2009 : Harvard business review   
October 2010 : Harvard business review

no its unlimited at my library - so as you can see some of them are coffee table books etc, I often wander through and just pick up books on birds or boats or forests or whatever from the folio section on whim.

I reserve books while I'll online, say reading  a forum or blog - see a book reviewed or recommended, go online to my library - reserve it then in a day or so its sitting in my pigeon hole waiting for me to pick it up. The library emails me when my reserves are ready or I just call in and have a look every now and then.

I can renew books on line too for up to two renewal terms.

I sometimes get CDs and DVDs too

I'm a pretty fast reader and some I only skim and others are picture books.

My library has about 6 branches in a LGA of about 170,000 people - the bring online reservations to my local branch for me to pick up if they are housed at other branches. They will also do interlibrary loans from anywhere in the state and also with Unis - theres sometimes a fee for that.

I currently have outstanding fines of $8.40 increasing at 20c a day until I get one book back. My biggest fine ever was $32.

Last edited by fxh (2011-03-04 05:08:25)