Reply to: CUK Book Club: Currently reading...

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Those poor poor people.

Next: "Pegasus Bridge" by Stephen E. Ambrose: Brits in this one. For a change.

Done: Off to Oxfam with it. Happily enough the print was rather larger than usual which was a distinct plus.

Next: "The Victors: the men of WWII" by Stephen E. Ambrose. The print is back to the usual size. .

Gosh. Chunks of this are word for word out of "Pegasus Bridge". I suspect this may be true of "D Day" and "Citizen Soldier" also by Ambrose.

Sounds like Omaha Beach was an even worse hell than I'd previously realised.

[NotAllThere]

Navalny, Patriot done. Back to Anthony Beevor's "Russia".

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Crazy Horse & Custer" by Stephen E. Ambrose. 1975. When he still had curly hair as witnessed by his appearance on World at War.

It's all about General Custard. The Glory Hunter. And Crazy Horse, the chap who did away with him.

Blah.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Those poor poor people*.

Next: "Pegasus Bridge" by Stephen E. Ambrose: Brits in this one. For a change.


*The Native Americans, though the grunts had a hard time of it too.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: funny old place the Caucasus . Written in 1994 before the advent of Putin.

Next: "A delicate truth" by J. Le Carre.

I must be getting old: I'm finding this one quite confusing. Have to leaf back through it remind myself WTF is going on, who's doing the needful going, and who the feck anyone is. And then, suddenly, it's 3 years later. .

It's odd how these books somehow grind to a halt for weeks for some reason. 20/11/24.

Done, finally. Odd sort of book really. I may have to read it again before it meets Oxfam.

Next: "The Night Manager" by J. Le Carre (1993).

In a fit of complete insanity (though who would notice?) I bought two copies of this 4 weeks apart for no readily apparent reason, it being ticked off on the list in my pocket. Ho very hum.

[sadkingbilly]

His early ones were pretty good. His latest one had interesting moments, but over all pretty poor.

yep, not so great.
his collaboration with C stross was good, that's why i tried him.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen E. Ambrose. This one's about the Lewis & Clarke expedition "from sea to shining sea" some 20 years before Douglas did it in the opposite direction whilst collecting samples of vegetation.

So far it's full of stuff about The Evil British, as one might expect.

100 pages in before the journey begins.

And by page 331 we've reached the Pacific having canoed down the Columbia River.

If the Native Americans had any sense they'd have killed them all. But there you go.

Journey ends at page 440, then there's 100 pages of What Happened Next.

Spoiler: it doesn't End Well for Lewis.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Crazy Horse & Custer" by Stephen E. Ambrose. 1975. When he still had curly hair as witnessed by his appearance on World at War.

It's all about General Custard. The Glory Hunter. And Crazy Horse, the chap who did away with him.

483 pages in this one as opposed to 438 in the previous one, which was written 20 years later.

I almost decided to read "When Britain burned the Whitehouse" but thought better of it.

The Septic exceptionalism is becoming somewhat tedious.

From the sounds of it the Native Americans had a fairly decent life until it was fecked up by something approaching genocide.

Classic: the glory hunter having survived the Civil War, he ends up the 7th Cavalry on the plains.

As dumb & unthinking as ever whilst commanding a troop in a search for the Sioux he spots some antelope & immediately abandons his troop to chase said antelope with his greyhounds.

Greyhounds fail to catch antelope, Custard now lost on the plains.

Oh! What do we see here? A buffalo bull! So off he goes chasing said buffalo, still as lost as ever.

Then to cap it all, when about to shoot the buffalo with his pistol, buffalo swerves, horse rears up and Custard, instead of shooting the buffalo, shoots his own horse in the head & kills it.

So, afoot on the plains, lost, no idea where the troop is, wanders around with his dogs.

Fortunately for Custard, the troop found him before the Indians did.

You really couldn't make this tulip up.

<spoiler>Custard meets his end, laughing, on page 442. Crazy Horse lasts a bit longer</spoiler>

The Septics, speaking as ever with Forked Tongue, and despite an existing treaty with the Sioux, steal the Black Hills.

The unfortunate Native Americans end up in "reservations", and corruption is rife in their food supply.

I've seen how they treat their own people, what chance do we have?*

*Not necessarily Sitting Bull, but one or other of the Native American Chiefs who went to Washington.

The incompetence of the Septic Army was amazing.

The Native Americans were left with one small area around the Bighorn where there were still enough buffalo to warrant a hunt.

They weren't beaten by the Army but by the buffalo hunters who killed millions of buffalo, not for any real reason other than to starve the Indians into submission.

https://theconversation.com/historic...inction-148780

It's Manifest Destiny innit, from sea to shining sea.

Then tulip all over it once you've got it all.

Especially if you can design tulip that lasts forever and contaminates the entire globe.

It's the Anglo way. No wonder they're so roundly hated, starting with the Celtic Fringe who have long memories and have hated the mofos since about 450AD.

[NotAllThere]

now reading 'down and out in the magic kingdom' by cory doctorow.

His early ones were pretty good. His latest one had interesting moments, but over all pretty poor.

[sadkingbilly]

now reading 'down and out in the magic kingdom' by cory doctorow.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: very probably off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Second Foundation" by I. Asimov. This one was 3/6d. (That's 17.5p by the way).

More Mule.

I remembered recently that in the long ago when I originally read this stuff I thought there really was an "Encyclopaedia Galactica" that you could look in to find the references.

Ah, the innocence of youth. Must have been about 11 or 12 at the time.

I'm not sure but I think it was the first of the trilogy that I read, long long ago. Possibly indicated by it being 3/6d as opposed to the 5/- of Foundation & Empire.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: TBD.

[sadkingbilly]

qntm- especially "There is no antimemetic division".
Derek Künksen - The Quantum Magician

DK very good, - thanks - will read more.
qntm on my list.
just reread the Hyperion Cantos by dan simmons, which my namesake has a bit part in. - as good as i remember the first time around.*

*god botherers may disagree

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: well 80% of it, the Merchants story isn't included. Fixed by buying "Foundation" for £9.99.

Next: "Foundation & Empire" by Isaac Asimov: this one was 5/-.

Done: very probably off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Second Foundation" by I. Asimov. This one was 3/6d. (That's 17.5p by the way).

More Mule.

I remembered recently that in the long ago when I originally read this stuff I thought there really was an "Encyclopaedia Galactica" that you could look in to find the references.

Ah, the innocence of youth. Must have been about 11 or 12 at the time.

[vetran]

Rachel Reeves CV it was in the fiction section!

Next Mandelson's Mortgage application and B'liars Dodgy Dossier.

Truthfully still on the black widowers not had time to finish.

[NotAllThere]

Patriot by Alexei Navalny

It's surprisingly upbeat and even funny. It reminds me of the old joke:

English - I will die for my country
French - I will die for honour
Italian - I will die for love
Russian - I will die

[DoctorStrangelove]

That was the theory: I bought "Foundation" by I. Asimov this afternoon: it was a bit more expensive than 5/-, costing £9.99 which is 40 times the old price.

A bargain so I can read "The Merchant Princes", the story omitted from "The 1000 year Plan".

Done: very probably off to Oxfam with it.

Next: TBD.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Having ground to a halt on the above:

"The 1000 year Plan" by Isaac Asimov / "No world of their own" by Poul Anderson in an ACE Double of 1955.

Turns out "The 1000 year plan" is, in fact, "Foundation", or rather 80% of Foundation, the last section being missing.

My copy of "Foundation" was "borrowed" by someone 30 years ago and I'm too mean to pay £10 for a replacement (the original was probably 3/6d or even 5/- ).

That was the theory: I bought "Foundation" by I. Asimov this afternoon: it was a bit more expensive than 5/-, costing £9.99 which is 40 times the old price.

A bargain so I can read "The Merchant Princes", the story omitted from "The 1000 year Plan".

Meanwhile the reading of "Foundation & Empire" has ground to a halt with the advent of The Mule. .


I resisted the opportunity to purchase some Poul Anderson epics, and easily resisted the temptation to purchase "Lucifer's Hammer" or "The Mote around Murchison's Eye"* despite both being in charity emporia in that Swansea.

*Correction: this one is in Neath. And it's still there even yet.