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Thread: To Read or not to Read

  1. #21
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    Very much so, but also Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band [who actually became Scientologists!!] etc I found it an incredibly good read [he's always very funny/eloquent on these BBC4 programmes]. As he says at the end 'As for me, I cheated. I never got too stoned. I became the eminence grise I aspired to be, and, disproved at least one sixties myth: I was there and I do remember'. We met Ashley Hutchins [sp] a few years ago at a village gig [a friend of ours manages his son, Blair Dunlop] and he still agonises over the fact that he discovered Nick Drake and worries that it would have been better had he not become 'famous'. My favourite book of recent times, though, is Bill Brysons 'At Home' which is about the rooms of his house [obviously] but, being Bill Bryson goes off into details about what was happening throughout the world at the time it was built, which happens to be at the time of the Great Exhibition, which is the historical event that I would go back in time to if I could. I'm currently having a tidy up/clear out of stuff in the garage [my ex left 15 years ago but it is still home to most of his car/motorbike stuff, along with his dad's lathes] and am fascinated by old tools and machinery. There are even old'ish oil cans that I will not throw away because I love the designs on them. And old prison scissors [his dad was a prison officer] with the ends cut off etc.

  2. #22
    Senior Member Euronymous's Avatar
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    If you're into Game of Thrones (and it is imo as good as The Sopranos and Breaking Bad) and have also read and enjoyed the books, give the Malazan book of the Fallen a try. Around 20 books now between two authors. It's very daunting, and one of the authors warns in an introduction to the opening original novel (prequels are coming out now) that he just drops you right into the middle of the action and you have to sink or swim, the majority don't get through all the books. But if you do, you won't regret it. It'll never come to TV, it's too out there, but **** it's a magnificent journey.

  3. #23
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    I wish I had the concentration to read books like that now; I can't seem to read the sort of books I read in my youth eg Gormenghast, Dune etc. Having said that, GoT's is very readable but I'm too stuck into the series to read the books now. I'll probably do that when it's all over as I'll be unable to let it go.

  4. #24
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grasshopper View Post
    Just downloaded 'Brexit: All Out War'. Will let you know.....though will probably take me longer than a night and a day to complete it.
    FWIW, this was an excellent (edit: and I should add, ultimately depressing) read.
    Last edited by Grasshopper; 28th August 2017 at 12:31 PM.
    "Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".

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  6. #25
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    Just finished 'Trump Revealed' by Marc Fisher & Michael Kranish.

    Very good and highly illuminating. Definitely worth a read.


    Now onto 'Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign'.
    Last edited by Grasshopper; 6th September 2017 at 8:46 AM.
    "Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".

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  7. #26
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    'Shattered' very good. Have downloaded 'What Happened' to see how Clinton's perspective lines-up against an independent assessment.
    "Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".

    SlimChance, March 2018

  8. #27
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    Anyone read the Harry Findlay book yet.

  9. #28
    Senior Member granger's Avatar
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    Didnt really enjoy Enemy Number One Grass. He is a bit too slick for me
    Some people say he’s the best since Arkle and that’s certainly true when you look at what he’s done

  10. #29
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    To be perfectly honest, PJ, it's not one I would have recommended.

    I find books about punters - and Jockeys and Trainers for that matter - to be generally pretty tedious, and it was a really a last-shot-deal, to see if this one by Veitch was any better (it wasn't). I downloaded Sure Thing (about Barney Curley's coup from a few years back) at the same time, and didn't actually finish it. It's basically why I won't bother with the Harry Findlay book either.

    Of the ones I listed earlier, All Out War and Trump Revealed are by some way the best/most informative/illuminating.
    Last edited by Grasshopper; 19th September 2017 at 3:02 PM.
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  11. #30
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    Starting the Enron book tonight

    Just finished the below - worth a quick read but not compelling

    The Stranger in the Woods : The extraordinary story of the last true hermit

    Some people say he’s the best since Arkle and that’s certainly true when you look at what he’s done

  12. #31
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    Still struggling through the Hillary Clinton book - extremely tedious, and largely an exercise in denial, as far as I can tell.

    To alleviate the boredom, I downloaded Jenson Button's auto-biography. Strictly for the F1 fan, I reckon.


    PJ, if you fancy a bit of fiction, then I can heartily-recommend you getting hold of one (or more) of Damon Runyon's collection of short-stories.

    Written in Runyon's unique and wonderfully-descriptive prose, they are highly-amusing tales of skullduggery and derring-do and all this-and-that, during Prohibition-era New York City. I'm sure you will find them more than somewhat enjoyable.
    Last edited by Grasshopper; 23rd October 2017 at 8:42 PM.
    "Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".

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  13. #32
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    Just read JP Donleavy's (RIP last month) "The Ginger Man" for the umpteenth time - must be just about my favourite book

  14. #33
    Senior Member Desert Orchid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grasshopper View Post
    PJ, if you fancy a bit of fiction, then I can heartily-recommend you getting hold of one (or more) of Damon Runyon's collection of short-stories.

    Written in Runyon's unique and wonderfully-descriptive prose, they are highly-amusing tales of skullduggery and derring-do all this-and-that, during Prohibition era New York City. I'm sure you will find them more than somewhat enjoyable.
    Seconded.

    I found myself reading a number of bits of his stuff about 40 years ago. I still smile when I think back on some of it!
    Illegitimi non carborundum


  15. #34
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    Definitely worth another run out, DO!
    "Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".

    SlimChance, March 2018

  16. #35
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    "Corbyn, Strange rebirth of radical politics". I got this from my local library recently. I cannot recall the author right now as I'm not at my place, but I thought this was a interesting and entertaining read. I agreed with the author on lots of stuff. However, the bits suggesting Blair and New Labour were against single parents and Black kids, I'm not entirely sure about. The Blair government introduced the minimum wage which actually helped single parents. The authors supposition is that, in trying to solve crime in inner cities like London, Blair was against black kids and single parents. I just think this was a bit vague and a over-generalisation tbh. Other than that, this was good read.
    Last edited by Marb; 26th October 2017 at 12:00 AM.

  17. #36
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    It’s by Richard Seymour, Marb......a self-confessed “Marxist writer” so no huge surprise he would have issues with Blair. Also, he - like most on the far-Left - is seeing only that which he wants to believe.

    In my view, there has in fact been no return to radical politics whatsoever, and Corbyn’s success (moderate as it was) in the last election, was down to tactical voting, intended to deny the repellent Tory Government a majority. It was an anti-Hard-Brexit vote, rather than an endorsement of Corbyn’s brand of socialism.
    Last edited by Grasshopper; 26th October 2017 at 7:34 AM.
    "Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".

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  19. #37
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    Interesting points, Grass,

    I will have to look more into your analysis in terms of researching what you have said, especially on the tactical voting and the anti-hard Brexit vote, before I can really say much back.

    I did read the authors page. I know he's a hardened leftie so you've definitely confirmed that.
    Historically I'm not a massive book reader I have to admit, but I'm well in my thirties now, so book reading is something I'm trying to do more of!

    For what its worth, I was 12 years old when Blair got in and 23 when he went, so much of Seymour's take on New Labour I can understand (I believed most it myself at some point).

    Apart from the Black people/Single parent stuff which I mentioned above which does seem wishful thinking as you've alluded to..


    To summarise or talk more broadly about politics for a sec....If this Austerity carries on which it looks likely to, with the NHS completely out of money to care for anyone properly, social care at crisis point, (never mind the patients), a huge lack of social housing stock, etc, then I reckon the political cycle is going back to that of the early 1990's.

    Where after nearly two decades of Tory government underfunding into public services, and a weak leader of John Majoresque proportions, (similar to what we have in Theresa May now), then I reckon a centre left government, (how far left I don't know), will at some point win in the next 5-10 years, or 1-2 elections.

    This is most likely to be Labour, unless they tear themselves apart and collapse, (should Jeremy Corbyn lose the next election).

    The chronic need for social care for the ageing population in a few years will need real investment, and right-of-centre goverment austerity will be incompatible with the pressures on public services in the U.K by this time. (In the E.U, or out of the E.U.)

    Does this make any sense?

    Hope so.

    Ps, sorry about so many edits, I can't knock out more than 75 words without major edits. You have obviously got me thinking.
    Last edited by Marb; 26th October 2017 at 11:05 AM.

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  21. #38
    Senior Member Grasshopper's Avatar
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    It's really the wrong thread for this, but.........


    Brexit is going to make the Tory austerity years look like unbridled profligacy.

    Corporations and jobs will move out of the UK jurisdiction in droves, which will massively impact tax receipts. We won't be able to afford shi*t. The UK credit-rating will tank even further, meaning any money we try to borrow from the markets to prop-up the State will be at a huge mark-up, and Government bond yields will need to be massive to attract any investment. End result is that we can only kick the can down the road a bit, before payback cripples us further.

    We are going to be utterly, utterly fu*cked when Brexit comes to pass, and as a country, we will eventually look back on Osborne's parsimony with misty-eyed nostalgia about how good we had it.

    To counter this inevitable calamitous outcome, we have the intellectual and persuasive might of May, Johnson, Davis and Fox going to bat for us. What have we to worry about?

    We won't need any social-care in a few years. We'll be shooting each other in the streets over loaves of bread.
    Last edited by Grasshopper; 26th October 2017 at 10:17 AM.
    "Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".

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  23. #39
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    So your kind-of saying what Nick Clegg has said at some point, that we can't leave The E.U and invest more into public services?

    I'm starting to get this a bit more now.
    Last edited by Marb; 26th October 2017 at 11:23 AM.

  24. #40
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    This blog is worth a gander as it's written by a brexiteer, but one who's quite aware that Brexit could be calamitous, in the short term at least

    http://peterjnorth.blogspot.co.uk/

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