Which Book Are You Reading Now? Volume XII

[CurtSibling]

 

[Takhisis]

Pretty good read, I give it a solid 8.5/10

Chinese Fantasy is really refreshing compared with Tolkien fantasy, It probably has a bunch of Cliches which are prevalent in Chinese fantasy setting.

Refreshing… well, most present-day Western fantasy is heavily influenced by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

 

[Traitorfish]

Francis Pryor is the bearded chap on Time Team, right? That looks interesting.

The bearded chap that looks like an absent-minded professor, yes, as opposed to the bearded chap who looks like a helpful woodland sprite.

 

[Zkribbler]

Dickens' A Christmas Carol

 

[Hrothbern]

This is my problem with reading anything serious these days. Less than half way into the book, I had to return it to the library. I just don't have the time and energy for a big, serious book these days.

Written non-fiction books should use much more the classical margin and on top visible spoilers.
if not really get on and write a 20% summary in the same chapter structure, which is also great to re-read it, or some chapters.
Mining is a great way to deal with info, serial cohesion a great way to get your message accross. Books as such can handle that both.

 

[Zkribbler]

Storyworld First, a how-to book of world building. It turns out, I know most of this stuff already, but I pick up interesting tidbits from time to time.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

In honor of Black History Month, I will continue with the African histories.

Nigeria: A New History of a Turbulent Century by Richard Bourne covers the West African giant's time since its colonial unification in 1914 to the presidential elections of 2015, where Nigeria's electorate installed a leader not from the old guard. The book seeks to answer both how the federation has held for so long despite massive divergences between North and West and East (and everything in between), and the paradox of poverty despite plenty of resources. My reading of it seems to point to the military and political complexes. Despite their deficiencies, they ease Nigeria back from the brink of separation (and sometimes after, as with what happened in Biafra). All for the cost of siphoning off significant amounts of the nation's oil wealth. In short, access to the capabilities and prestige of a large nation-state is a strong centrifugal force for Nigeria's rulers and its people.

 

[Takhisis]

Hunter of the Ruined world

This sounds interesting. Could you elaborate?

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

 

[Lexicus]

I just started reading Democracy in Chains: The Far Right's Stealth Plan For America, by Nancy MacLean. This is a really good book and I would advise anyone who wants to understand how we got to President Donald Trump to pick it up and read it.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

A Short of History of Mozambique by Malyn Newitt really puts the emphasis on "short", to the point of suffering from lack of detail, like how Lourenço Marques just becomes Maputo when the chapter rolls over. Portugal's legacy of highly indirect and decentralized rule carries over in the lack of national unity. In fact, the country's founding and long-time ruling party FRELIMO originated from southern exiles.

 

[Cutlass]

 

[Takhisis]

Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol.

 

[Ajidica]

Finally got around to finishing Katanga 1960: The African Nations that Waged War on the World. The book is all over the place. It includes some fascinating interviews with ex-mercenaries and detailed information with regards to the internal power struggled inside the secessionist state; such as the differences between Tshombe and Munongo, the various mercenary groups, and the Franco-Belgian tensions. However, the book can also be infuriatingly vague at times. Little discussion occurs of what the Mistebel (Belgian technical mission to Katanga) actually got up to, the Belgian and foreign role in the execution of Lumumba is basically glossed over, and the maps are rubbish. The author goes into great detail in the clashes between UNOC and the Katangan gendarmes/mercenaries in Elisabethville but doesn't include a map of Elisabethville, even a crude one so I can put together the relative locations of the Post Office, College Radio, the Lido, and the Railway Bridge.

There is also a strange tone throughout the book, in that I think the author got a bit seduced to lost cause-ing* Katanga through his interviews with white mercenaries and hindsight. He revels in listing the flaws and scurrilous rumors about Lumumba; his imprisonment for fraud (no indication if this was valid or not), peculiar sexual habits, and fondness for hash. None of the other politicians -Adoula, Tshombe, Kasa-Vubu, Mobutu, Gizenga, etc- get anywhere near that level of treatment. He also has a strong dislike for Dag Hammarskjold, Ralph Bunche, and Connon Cruise O'Brien with vague generalities about the UN men being "vacillating" and "weak". Fair criticism of the UN, but he doesn't really go anywhere with that. Namikas goes into much better detail in her book on the logistical issues affecting ONUC; but here it is never made clear if the author is just agreeing with Namikas but presenting her conclusions in passing or just has a general dislike for the UN. The author spends an almost disturbing amount of time on the prevalence of rape against the white colonists after independence, which in mainline scholarly accounts isn't really present** as anything beyond the levels of rape that occurs in any violent upheaval. Rape could very well have been more prevalent than those books let on, they were mainly political histories. However, rather than exploring why this aspect may be underreported in most accounts of the Congo Crisis, he simply throws away a line of "most foreign reporters sympathized with independence and didn't want to report bad things about it" which falls a bit flat.

Plus, there is the whole romantic takes on the mercenaries which was just about excusable when Forsyth was doing it right after Biafra but feels a bit strange in a history book. In other words, if you are interested in Katanga and its internal politics, it is worth a read. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

*If that isn't a verb, it should be.
**Lise Namikas Battleground Africa, Odd Arne Westad The Global Cold War, Martin Meredith The State of Africa.

 

[Kyriakos]

Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol.

Gogol was one of the great writers, of course, though i never managed to read that book. Like a few other russians (which he preceded) he seems to have been far better in small novella than full-blown massive novels, in which, you could say, he lost his soul /csimiami

 

[Mouthwash]

*If that isn't a verb, it should be.

'Causing' is indeed a verb.

 

[Paul in Saudi]

I got the free sample for the Chamberlain biography. It was interesting, but too dense to really enjoy. Instead I got the novel about Chamberlain, Munich. I finished in two days and neglected my other projects. I recommend it.

 

[Takhisis]

Gogol was one of the great writers, of course, though i never managed to read that book. Like a few other russians (which he preceded) he seems to have been far better in small novella than full-blown massive novels, in which, you could say, he lost his soul /csimiami

I think it's the first work I've read of his.

'Causing' is indeed a verb.

This causes me to point out that Ajidica says ‘lost-cause’ should be a verb.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think it's the first work I've read of his.

This causes me to point out that Ajidica says ‘lost-cause’ should be a verb.

His best works are imo The Overcoat, and Diary of a madman.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Another Greenwood history, The History of Somalia, by Raphael Chijioke. Short but with sufficient detail. Takes the reader through the crucial events in Somali history: the arrival of Islam, colonization, unification of British and Italian Somaliland into an independent Somalia, Mohammed Siad Barre's long rule, and the implosion of the state in the 1990s. The major theme is the highly-independent nature of the Somali people and polities, and the final chapter argues for a Confederation of Independent Somali States as the only way a united Somali nation can persist.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I am closer to understanding the Shatnerverse.