WHAT have you finished reading recently? In Distant Lands, Lars Brownworth
WHAT are you reading now? I just started The Normans: From Raiders to Kings by Lars Brownsworth.
WHAT are you reading next? Perhaps The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson. A coworker has recommended to me on multiple occasions and frequently expresses her disbelief that I’ve not yet read it.
Yes, do read The Devil in the White City, it’s really excellent.
Last #book I finished: Tout ce qui est sur terre doit périr, by #MichelBussi
Amreading: West Wind, by #MaryOliver
Amlistening to: The Accident (from The Listerdale Mystery), by #AgathaChristie
TBR Reading next: The Iron Heel, by #JackLondon
I’ve liked previous Larson books, so I imagine I’ll enjoy this one.
Iron Heel response will be interesting!
I recently added ‘Iron Heel’ to my reading “soon” stack. Its presently working its way through the system…..
Iron Heel: what did YOU think?
Back when I read it, I was MUCH more sympathetic to the socialist POV. I read it in 2010, which was probably the peak of my time in the left. By the end of 2012 I’d started reading Hayek. 15+ years later, without benefit of a lot of memory, I remember appreciating how early it was to the dystopian game, and predicting something like corporate oligarchy. A lot of the book was argument, though, and I’ve since forgot. This is my review from back in the day if you want a ‘fresher’ reaction. The funny thing is, I still have many of the same core feelings — the distrust of corporate power, the will to dismember it — but now they’re tangled with the fact that my years of studying politics, history, and economics has made me realize corporations always turn the State to their own benefit, even when it’s ostensibly trying to regulate them. Part of me still thinks that bad corporations would fail if they were not supported by government, which is why I am still slightly more of a libertarian than a “proper” conservative.
Fascinating. Will keep your perspective in mind while discovering the book
Well, past-me’s perspective, anyway. Take versions of myself from 2005, 2009, 2015, and now and you’d get quite a few arguments going!
I recently dnf’d The Resolve of Immortal Flesh.
I’m currently reading Rise of the Warrior Cop (non-fiction no less, go me!)
I think my next book will be The Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams.
ooh! Rise of the Warrior Cop was a SERIOUS eye-opener for me.
You took his obviously one sided pro-drug writing seriously?
I took his casual militarization of law enforcement seriously, yes — especially after I realized that Waco and Ruby Ridge weren’t just things crazy people talked about, but actual gross abuses by the federal government.
….but maybe now I’m a crazy person. One never knows………..