Trending Topics

      Next match: LFC v Brighton [Premier League] Sun 31st Mar @ 2:00 pm
      Anfield

      Today is the 29th of March and on this date LFC's match record is P24 W11 D6 L7

      The best book you have read recently

      Read 149444 times
      0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
      Frankly, Mr Shankly
      • Guest
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #851: Oct 21, 2019 07:16:54 pm
      Finished reading Michael Palin's historical book Erebus. The story of HMS Erebus and its grisly fate at the hands of Sir John Franklin in uncharted territory in the far reaches of what is today northern Canada (you may remember that the wreck of Erebus was finally discovered 5 years ago) . Loved every page of it. A great piece of history full of adventure, audacity, despair and disaster. It must have been a terrible way for that crew of 129 men to have died, riddled with scurvy, probable lead poisoning and freezing to death.

      Their bodies are still scattered somewhere around that wilderness.

      For anyone with a passing interest in history of any kind or indeed loves anything Michael Palin does then I would fully recommend it!
      Swab
      • Forum Legend - Paisley
      • *****

      • 13,361 posts | 3462 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #852: Oct 21, 2019 07:20:31 pm
      Finished reading Michael Palin's historical book Erebus. The story of HMS Erebus and its grisly fate at the hands of Sir John Franklin in uncharted territory in the far reaches of what is today northern Canada (you may remember that the wreck of Erebus was finally discovered 5 years ago) . Loved every page of it. A great piece of history full of adventure, audacity, despair and disaster. It must have been a terrible way for those crew men to have died, riddled with scurvy, lead poisoning and freezing to death.

      Their bodies are still scattered somewhere around that wilderness.

      For anyone with a passing interest in history of any kind or indeed loves anything Michael Palin does then I would fully recommend it!

      I think "The Terror" by Dan Simmons was based on that expedition.
      Frankly, Mr Shankly
      • Guest
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #853: Oct 21, 2019 07:23:22 pm
      I think "The Terror" by Dan Simmons was based on that expedition.

      Yes! HMS Terror was her sister ship on the expedition and she was discovered about 50 miles to the north of Erebus just three years ago.

      Is that book a supernatural thriller? I'm sure it was that which someone recommended to me the TV series which was based on the book?
      FATKOPITE10
      • LFC Reds Subscriber
      • ******
      • 14,342 posts | 3368 
      • Liverpool fc give me tourettes
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #854: Oct 21, 2019 07:27:03 pm
      Yes! HMS Terror was her sister ship on the expedition and she was discovered about 50 miles to the north of Erebus just three years ago.

      Is that book a supernatural thriller? I'm sure it was that which someone recommended to me the TV series which was based on the book?

      Seen the tv series. As a history buff fascinated by the franklin story i tried to ignore what i had read and just treat it as a work of fiction.
      Swab
      • Forum Legend - Paisley
      • *****

      • 13,361 posts | 3462 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #855: Oct 21, 2019 07:33:39 pm
      Yes! HMS Terror was her sister ship on the expedition and she was discovered about 50 miles to the north of Erebus just three years ago.

      Is that book a supernatural thriller? I'm sure it was that which someone recommended to me the TV series which was based on the book?

      Yes, kind of a supernatural thriller.
      I really enjoyed it.

      I can't speak for the TV show, because I haven't seen it.
      Frankly, Mr Shankly
      • Guest
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #856: Oct 21, 2019 08:23:12 pm
      Yes, kind of a supernatural thriller.
      I really enjoyed it.

      I can't speak for the TV show, because I haven't seen it.

      Will have to give it a read. Thanks for the recommendation.

      Seen the tv series. As a history buff fascinated by the franklin story i tried to ignore what i had read and just treat it as a work of fiction.

      There's another great book on the Franklin expedition I read a few years back (if you're interested) called Fatal Passage by Ken McGoogan. It's more a biography of Dr John Rae, the Hudson Bay Company employee who discovered the fate of the Franklin Expedition, but it really exposes some of the horrors and arrogance of the British imperialist mindset contrasted with the 'going native' approach of John Rae who communicated, worked with and used the local knowledge of the inuit tribes in that region of the world to ascertain the facts of the expedition. It's a great insight into the life of probably the most unheralded explorer in British history.

      And why was he unheralded? Because he had the tenacity to come back to Britain and, on the accounts given to him by the local inuit, report that the crew of the expedition had resorted to cannibalism, a claim that caused revulsion amongst Victorian high society who simply refused to believe that fine men of the British Empire could resort to the last resort!
      FATKOPITE10
      • LFC Reds Subscriber
      • ******
      • 14,342 posts | 3368 
      • Liverpool fc give me tourettes
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #857: Oct 21, 2019 10:53:08 pm
      Will have to give it a read. Thanks for the recommendation.

      There's another great book on the Franklin expedition I read a few years back (if you're interested) called Fatal Passage by Ken McGoogan. It's more a biography of Dr John Rae, the Hudson Bay Company employee who discovered the fate of the Franklin Expedition, but it really exposes some of the horrors and arrogance of the British imperialist mindset contrasted with the 'going native' approach of John Rae who communicated, worked with and used the local knowledge of the inuit tribes in that region of the world to ascertain the facts of the expedition. It's a great insight into the life of probably the most unheralded explorer in British history.

      And why was he unheralded? Because he had the tenacity to come back to Britain and, on the accounts given to him by the local inuit, report that the crew of the expedition had resorted to cannibalism, a claim that caused revulsion amongst Victorian high society who simply refused to believe that fine men of the British Empire could resort to the last resort!

      Yeah, read that. Remember seeing some photos and film. of what was left behind preserved for years. The food, bodies etc. Incredible stuff
      KopEnd1995
      • On Trial

      • 1 posts |
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #858: Jun 04, 2020 01:41:00 pm
      I've just finished reading Emile Heskey's autobiography, it's a really good read and includes some interesting stories from his time at Liverpool I was unaware of.

      I think he was always underrated by many but I still remember how brilliant he was at times, especially in his first season here in 2000/01.

      I'd definitely recommend the book anyway for those who haven't read it yet, it certainty killed a lot of time for me during lockdown!
      Swab
      • Forum Legend - Paisley
      • *****

      • 13,361 posts | 3462 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #859: Jun 05, 2020 06:24:41 pm
      I've just finished reading Emile Heskey's autobiography, it's a really good read and includes some interesting stories from his time at Liverpool I was unaware of.

      I think he was always underrated by many but I still remember how brilliant he was at times, especially in his first season here in 2000/01.

      I'd definitely recommend the book anyway for those who haven't read it yet, it certainty killed a lot of time for me during lockdown!

      First post and plugging Heskey's book?

      Is that you big man?

      Hope yer keeping well fella.

      ;)
       :laugh:
      MIRO
      • LFC Reds Subscriber
      • ******
      • 12,989 posts | 3124 
      • Trust The Universe
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #860: Jun 27, 2020 06:22:39 pm
      Reckless.  Chrissie Hynde

      Interesting article today in the Saturday Telegraph.
      Can identify with the craziness and giving up drugs/ booze.  Been on that trip myself.
      Isaac!
      • Forum Legend - Benitez
      • *****

      • 1,572 posts | 325 
      Re: The Best Book You have read recently
      Reply #861: Jul 16, 2020 11:07:10 pm
      Catch 22 is one of my favourite books, along with Crime and Punishment. Catch 22 is satirical. I loved the black humour in it. :laugh:

      The wit in Catch 22 is hilarious, but I thought it bloated and full of problems. Did you see the recent tv adaptation? They trimmed it down and made it simpler, but some very funny moments. Catch 22 definitely captured in the most briiliant way the bang-your-head-against-the-wall- inbuilt idiocy of institutions. Heller's novel, " Something Happened" was his best I think.

      Crime and Punishment is a masterpiece. To examine such high minded philosophical and spiritual themes and present them with such an exciting plot is pretty unique, outside Shakespeare who did eveything!
      Swab
      • Forum Legend - Paisley
      • *****

      • 13,361 posts | 3462 
      Re: The Best Book You have read recently
      Reply #862: Jul 17, 2020 06:38:13 pm
      The wit in Catch 22 is hilarious, but I thought it bloated and full of problems. Did you see the recent tv adaptation? They trimmed it down and made it simpler, but some very funny moments. Catch 22 definitely captured in the most briiliant way the bang-your-head-against-the-wall- inbuilt idiocy of institutions. Heller's novel, " Something Happened" was his best I think.

      Crime and Punishment is a masterpiece. To examine such high minded philosophical and spiritual themes and present them with such an exciting plot is pretty unique, outside Shakespeare who did eveything!

      Such an underrated book.

      In one hit, everything falls together, and you see Bob Slocum in a complately different way.
      HUYTON RED
      • Forum Legend - Shankly
      • ******

      • 39,948 posts | 8458 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #863: Aug 04, 2020 12:18:28 pm
      I've just finished reading Emile Heskey's autobiography, it's a really good read and includes some interesting stories from his time at Liverpool I was unaware of.

      I think he was always underrated by many but I still remember how brilliant he was at times, especially in his first season here in 2000/01.

      I'd definitely recommend the book anyway for those who haven't read it yet, it certainty killed a lot of time for me during lockdown!


      I liked the way he jibbed his wife for a stripper and used to hold a phone to his ear to ignore all the journos congregating before they go back to team coach and dopey Emile looked a bit of a tit pretending to talk on the phone then the phone goes off!

      Always reckoned when we bought Heskey we overspent, I would of personally preferred to have stuck with Titi until the summer of that season then gone for Emile for £9 million rather than wasting £11 million when we did and still blew 3rd place against Bradford.
      MIRO
      • LFC Reds Subscriber
      • ******
      • 12,989 posts | 3124 
      • Trust The Universe
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #864: Sep 22, 2020 04:04:32 am
      Eckhart Tolle :  A New Earth.

      Example Quotes :     " You Have So Much To Learn From Your Enemies "

                                    “Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp ...  which isn’t very much.”

                                    “Every complaint is a little story the mind makes up that you completely believe in.”
      « Last Edit: Sep 22, 2020 04:13:55 am by MIRO »
      MIRO
      • LFC Reds Subscriber
      • ******
      • 12,989 posts | 3124 
      • Trust The Universe
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #865: Sep 24, 2020 05:13:56 pm
      Anyone read Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them - by Al Franken (funny read slagging off the republican side of American politics and Fox News)


      Nothings changed in 13 years H.

      Nothing. If not ...worse.

      tezmac
      • LFC Reds Subscriber
      • ******
      • 11,111 posts | 896 
      • F**k the Sun F**k Murdoch F**k the press
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #866: Oct 27, 2020 07:41:30 pm
      Just started Bill Bryson,s body love his style of writing
      Isaac!
      • Forum Legend - Benitez
      • *****

      • 1,572 posts | 325 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #867: Oct 27, 2020 10:30:06 pm
      Eckhart Tolle :  A New Earth.

      Example Quotes :     " You Have So Much To Learn From Your Enemies "

                                    “Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp ...  which isn’t very much.”

                                    “Every complaint is a little story the mind makes up that you completely believe in.”

      I discovered Eckhart Tolle through Russell Brand's channel. I liked Russell for his politics and not his recent 'spiritual' phase, in fact I find a lot of that stuff a real turn off. As Woody Allen said, between air conditioning and the Pope I'll take the former. Yet Eckhart Tolle is something else, he's the most sincere and authentic person I know of. Listening to him the cynicism drops away and all there is is respect.
      MIRO
      • LFC Reds Subscriber
      • ******
      • 12,989 posts | 3124 
      • Trust The Universe
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #868: Oct 28, 2020 07:21:05 am
      I discovered Eckhart Tolle through Russell Brand's channel. I liked Russell for his politics and not his recent 'spiritual' phase, in fact I find a lot of that stuff a real turn off. As Woody Allen said, between air conditioning and the Pope I'll take the former. Yet Eckhart Tolle is something else, he's the most sincere and authentic person I know of. Listening to him the cynicism drops away and all there is is respect.

      Yes. You're absolutely right about his sincerity.
      Harrisimo
      • Forum Legend - Dalglish
      • *****

      • 7,970 posts | 1356 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #869: May 12, 2023 02:59:42 pm
      Watched a documentary on J D Salinger. Lot of stuff obviously about CITR. Think Salinger was pissed off over so many people thinking the book was about a rebellious teenager when it was really about a family bereavement and how the family dealt with it.
      Longy-Shops
      • Forum Legend - Fagan
      • *****

      • 2,979 posts | 666 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #870: May 12, 2023 07:08:53 pm
      The best book I've read recently has to be the Pulitzer Prize winning: American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. 25 years in the making...subtitled The Triumph & Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, this biography is an absolute masterpiece. It details Oppenheimer's life as a protege theoretical physicist which ultimately led to his role overseeing the Manhattan project and the race to create the first Atomic bomb. After the World War he cautioned against any further use of nuclear weapons. Thus he became a victim of political witch-hunt which destroyed both his career and his spirit, though thankfully not his enduring legacy. 700 plus pages and I couldn't put it down.
      Longy-Shops
      • Forum Legend - Fagan
      • *****

      • 2,979 posts | 666 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #871: Oct 13, 2023 12:03:07 am
      With the awful conflict in the Middle East in the news I thought I'd recommend "Rise and Kill First" by Ronan Bergman
      It is an in depth account of the establishment of Israel and a history of it's targeted killing programs which has shaped the Nation.
      Longy-Shops
      • Forum Legend - Fagan
      • *****

      • 2,979 posts | 666 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #872: Oct 13, 2023 10:48:51 pm
      Just finished Max Hasting's "Vietnam; An Epic history of a tragic war"
      From the early years and rise of Ho Chi Minh, and the ousting of the colonial French, through to the ill fated and vast military engagement of the US. and the eventual fall of Saigon. This book details the whole madness and badness from all sides. 58,000 US Dead, with 40 Vietnamese killed for every 1 of the US.....Not 4, 40.
      I read this statistic recently: Of the 150,000 years of Humans living on Earth, 95% had passed before the appearance of War.
      Longy-Shops
      • Forum Legend - Fagan
      • *****

      • 2,979 posts | 666 
      Re: The best book you have read recently
      Reply #873: Mar 24, 2024 03:15:24 pm
      Just finished Steven Pinker's "Enlightenment Now" The Case for Reason, Science,Humanism and Progress.
      He reminds us that the principles, and material Global benefits of the enlightenment shouldn't be taken for granted and that unless we keep reminding ourselves of those principles, defending and upholding them.... Human progress may falter.

      Published in 2017, so obviously before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the current Israeli military offensive in Gazza.... but still for me it's a profoundly optimistic World View.

      Quick Reply