Current stack: AA BigBook, 12x12, 24 Hours a Day, "Recovery"-John Berryman
To finish: "Travels in Hyperreality" and "The Island of the Day Before"- Umberto Eco; "The River Why"-David Duncan; "mere Christianity", "The Problem of Pain", "Miracles", "The Abolition of Man", "The Four Loves"- C.S. Lewis To start: "The Anatomy Lesson"-Philip Roth; "Lost in the Cosmos"- Walker Percy; "The Messiah and the Mandarins"-Dennis Bloodworth; "The First Salute"- Barbara Tuchman; "The Closing of the American Mind"- Allan Bloom; "Peter the Great"-Robert Massie; "Tolstoy"-Henri Troyat; "The Mitfords"-Charlotte Mosley; "Cromwell-The Lord Protector" Antonia Fraser. On Jul 31, 5:25�pm, frantheman <[email protected]> wrote: > I've a couple of weeks holidays coming up ta the end of August and > would be interested to hear some reading suggestions. But, as one > shouldn't take without giving, I thought I'd get the ball rolling with > a brief description of some of the books I've found good in the past > few months ;-) > > Harry Thompson, This Thing of Darkness: I owe this tip to Ian - thanks > mate! A well researched, very well written historical novel, based > mainly on the voyage of the Beagle and the lives of its captain, > Robert FitzRoy and his most famous passenger, Charles Darwin. The > character of FitzRoy, an interesting historical figure in his own > right, is particularly well done. Sadly, there will be no more gems > from this author, as he died tragically young four years ago. > > Tom Holland, Persian Fire: Who says ancient history is boring? > Holland's excellent book describing the war between east and west, a > war between a superpower representing then civilised values (the > Persian empire) against barbarian rogue states (Athens and Sparta) > challenging the world order reads like a thriller. His previous work, > Rubicon, about the fall of the Roman Republic is equally good. I'm > loking forward to reading his latest, Millenium, about the early > European Middle Ages, featuring the crusades. > > Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind: This is the best fantasy book > I've read in a long time (and I read quite a bit of fantasy). > Extremely well written, it's hard to describe. As the author himself > says, "If I could sum it up in 50 words, I wouldn't have needed to > write a whole novel about it." The first of a trilogy, the second part > of which is due out this summer, it's simply an amazing first novel. > > Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained: For anyone wanting to get > into contemporary philosophy, and particularly the vexed questions of > consciousness and epistemology, this is a very good starting point. > Dennett's position is unashamedly empirical (he identifies himself as > a Bright and is a pal of Dawkins [though a much more incisive > thinker]) but, more importantly, he also, unusually for a philosopher, > writes lucidly, entertainingly and well. > > Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow/Children of God: These two have to be > read together. Wonderful science fiction, the hero being a Jesuit > scientist whose first contact with an alien civilisation brings his > faith into fundamental crisis. The books take a sympathetic position > regarding rational faith in a personal God, although the author > describes herself as an agnostic. Many issues discussed on Minds Eye > come up here, along with complex characters, a compelling story and > good science fiction. > > So, what about you? > > Francis --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
