What books are you reading for pleasure these days?

by mere chance I came across this recently published book
Once it gets translated into English it is sure to become a classic and an eye-opener
das-foto-schaute-mich-an_9783518225356_cover.jpg

»Bei diesen Bildern schien mir, als hätte ich plötzlich etwas gefunden, etwas Zartes, beinahe Verschwundenes, wie eine Heimat, von der man geträumt hat, die einem niemals gehören wird, wie die verlorene, dahingeglittene Zeit.« Katja Petrowskaja
(»In these pictures it seemed to me as if I had suddenly found something, something delicate, almost gone, like a homeland that one has dreamed of, that will never belong to one, like lost, slipped time.«)
 
I'm reading this at the moment - Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne.

It's a book about world cities, urban planning, architecture, globalisation, politics, history, music and art and much else besides. What (loosely) links it all together is city cycling, so we share what the author is seeing and thinking as he pedals around Berlin, London, Sydney, Istanbul, New York, San Francisco and many other great cities.

I'm currently about halfway through (in Buenos Aires, since you ask). So far I'm enjoying the journey and I'll be sad when it's over.

-R

View attachment 309420
1659624837244.png

Cycling all round France, inspired by The Tour De France (but not too strictly) and mostly about food and the culture thereof.
 
I'm reading this at the moment - Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne.

It's a book about world cities, urban planning, architecture, globalisation, politics, history, music and art and much else besides. What (loosely) links it all together is city cycling, so we share what the author is seeing and thinking as he pedals around Berlin, London, Sydney, Istanbul, New York, San Francisco and many other great cities.

I'm currently about halfway through (in Buenos Aires, since you ask). So far I'm enjoying the journey and I'll be sad when it's over.

-R

View attachment 309420
Thats a good one, may need to put it in the to re-read heap now. :drinks:
 
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. I've raced through the boxed set of All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy and am halfway through Network Effect. I'll be reading the most recent Murderbot book she's written, Fugitive Telemetry, by early next week. They are all smart, funny and fast reads.
 

Attachments

  • Murderbot Diaries.jpg
    Murderbot Diaries.jpg
    305.8 KB · Views: 27
Finally finished "The Silmarillion", for the third or fourth time. It's a complex book. Tolkien started it before he started "The Lord of the Rings", and did not finish it until after he had finished same, shortly before his death.

My hat's off to his son, Christopher, for putting all his father's papers in order and publishing them in about 12 volumes. I have them all.

Heart problems (more surgery) and multiple complexities of life held that up for almost a year ...

I usually read before going to sleep, so taking the mandatory 3x BP measurements, 3 minutes apart, after lying still for 5-10 minutes before taking the first tends to bugger up reading time!
 
Finally finished "The Silmarillion", for the third or fourth time. It's a complex book. Tolkien started it before he started "The Lord of the Rings", and did not finish it until after he had finished same, shortly before his death.

My hat's off to his son, Christopher, for putting all his father's papers in order and publishing them in about 12 volumes. I have them all.

Heart problems (more surgery) and multiple complexities of life held that up for almost a year ...

I usually read before going to sleep, so taking the mandatory 3x BP measurements, 3 minutes apart, after lying still for 5-10 minutes before taking the first tends to bugger up reading time!
Bravo on that accomplishment. I believe it's three times for me with The Silmarillion, if you'll let me count the audiobook, about 3 years ago. I need to read it again soon. I do love it.

I'm into Book Six of LotR, as Tolkien himself categorized the second half of The Return of the King. Time has gotten in the way of reading, but hopefully I'll finish it soon (it will be, to the best of my knowledge, my eighth time through).
 
@John King That one's been standing in my bookshelf for nearly half a century, John.
An absolute standard with superb photos. And you're right, it has some Bauhaus touch.
All books by Mante are still as actual as when they came out (concerning composition).
The reason for me to choose the three was to see if digital age has to offer anything new in that field.
 
"Aquanaut: The Inside Story of the Thai Cave Rescue" by Rick Stanton, of the British divers who found the boys. I've been watching interviews and documentaries and reading articles and books about the rescue all week. A compelling, touching story. At the time, in 2018, I wept in joyful relief when all 13 from the team cave out alive, a result I'd prayed for but dared not expect.
 
I've not done much fiction reading since I last posted on this thread in July 2021. At that time I had just finished a marathon of all 32 Terry Brooks novels in the "Shannara" timeline over a 9 month period. A few months after that, his new book Child of Light hit the market. It was OK, but he definitely tried to bring elements of the "Shannara" universe into what was supposed to be a whole new series. Since then, my reading has been how-to books and cycling magazines.
 
Back
Top