What are you currently reading?

[Broch]

I’ve just finished this: ‘Wilding’ by Isabella Tree.

It’s the story of them returning their 3,500 acre Knepp estate in Sussex to wilderness; a farm estate the family had owned since the 1700’s.

It is an absolute mine of information presented in a very readable style that documents the trials and tribulations, as well as the successes and celebrations, of transforming a heavily ‘processed’ farm to as close to a natural British wilderness as possible. It covers a lot more besides: issues with farming policy and subsidy; the reticence of British Government to grasp some of the concepts now being implemented in Europe and the USA; problems with the British food chain and associated ill-health; and, of course, the needs of native wildlife in Britain.

I am not convinced by all of Ms Tree’s arguments, and she occasionally states as fact some things I would rather see presented as hypothesis, but it is, without doubt, a very useful source of information and an ideal focal point for discussion and learning.

I recommend it.

 

[Tiley]

I was given "The Book of Trespass" for Christmas but haven't started it yet.

Currently on the go are "A Rising Man" by Abir Mukherjee and "Orwell's Roses" by Rebecca Solnit. I am really enjoying both for very different reasons!

 

[swyn]

I’ve just finished this: ‘Wilding’ by Isabella Tree.

It’s the story of them returning their 3,500 acre Knepp estate in Sussex to wilderness; a farm estate the family had owned since the 1700’s.

It is an absolute mine of information presented in a very readable style that documents the trials and tribulations, as well as the successes and celebrations, of transforming a heavily ‘processed’ farm to as close to a natural British wilderness as possible. It covers a lot more besides: issues with farming policy and subsidy; the reticence of British Government to grasp some of the concepts now being implemented in Europe and the USA; problems with the British food chain and associated ill-health; and, of course, the needs of native wildlife in Britain.

I am not convinced by all of Ms Tree’s arguments, and she occasionally states as fact some things I would rather see presented as hypothesis, but it is, without doubt, a very useful source of information and an ideal focal point for discussion and learning.

I recommend it.

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Oh, this is such a good read!
I took note of the comment 'changes happen with the death of an older supposed 'expert'.
Generational change is exactly that and often it is too slow.
Land-owners being paid on a sliding scale in relation to the amount of land owned was never going to improve the countryside. Perhaps the new grant system will.
I live in hope.
I put my wife's and my own principals ahead of a well paid land based job in 2008 to re-start a different life. Going from a huge salary (to me) to self-employed f-all is not easy but well worth it in the long run!

Another audible book fan here.
Recent hospitalisation brought this into its own with my old iPod classic and my daughter-in-law downloading a good number of books so I could listen whilst being immobile.
Have spacesuit Will Travel is a goodie.
All the original Ian fleming, James Bond, books need to be read to understand how Hollywood has ripped the original writing apart for sensationalisation. The old books themselves are quite charming.

Clive Cussler @Tony is in there too.....I fall asleep whilst listening to these and then re-wind to re-listen the following bed-time!
S

 

[FerlasDave]

Clive Cussler @Tony is in there too.....I fall asleep whilst listening to these and then re-wind to re-listen the following bed-time!
S

Yes. Cussler makes some fantastic stories. Perhaps I should try the audio books too!

Probably not as exciting but I’ve just ordered a copy of moby dick..

 

[TeeDee]

Yes. Cussler makes some fantastic stories. Perhaps I should try the audio books too!

Probably not as exciting but I’ve just ordered a copy of moby dick..

As the film went by mildly unnoticed of with the aid of a fanfare at the time have you watched :-

In the Heart of the Sea (2015) ⭐ 6.9 | Action, Adventure, Biography

2h 2m | 12A

www.imdb.com

​

Just mentioning it in case you missed it.

 

[FerlasDave]

I remember watching it, don’t remember how it went though. As usual it’s probably totally different to the book.

 

[grizzlyj]

Libyan Sands; Travel in a Dead World by R.A. Bagnold Possibly along similar lines to oldtimers suggestion above?

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall Eye opening in how a countries outlook can be dictated by geography. I think one review read something like essential reading for any new foreign secretary. His new one on flags will probably be next. :

 

[FerlasDave]

I went to the book shop today to pick up Moby Dick. They had this one on the shelf which caught my eye, I’m sure it will be a great read.

Walden (AmazonClassics Edition) eBook : Thoreau, Henry David: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Walden (AmazonClassics Edition) eBook : Thoreau, Henry David: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[billycoen]

Battlefields of Britain,got it this morning from the local charity shop,one quid.

 

[Nice65]

All the original Ian fleming, James Bond, books need to be read to understand how Hollywood has ripped the original writing apart for sensationalisation. The old books themselves are quite charming.

They really are good reads, and I know where you’re coming from regards the money making aspect. But we needed a Roger Moore comedy Bond at the time to please us kids who were watching Smoky and the Bandit or the Dukes of Hazzard, just like we now need the modern Bond films as a keepsake of “Bond”. I like the Craig films in this time as much as I enjoyed the older ones in their time.

There’s a bloke around here, often see him in a pub corner at a table, tapping away on his computer, I’ve always said hello to him. I thought for years he was doing the accounts for various businesses, so one day I asked him what he was writing. “Oh, a screenplay” was his answer. Obviously I asked him what kind of things he wrote. A most interesting guy, he’s written everything Bond since Halle Berry walked out of the sea doing the Ursula Andress. I never ask him what he’s writing, I’m not bothered at all, and he’d never tell me if I did, but it’s being written for the screen and not as a book.

To turn a book into a film and capture the feel of the book, just for its value in the written story, often doesn’t work unless they’re comic books like Sin City. Well, not financially anyway. My reading (trash novels) is separate from my listening (Under Milk Wood at the moment), and my watching (Joker, terribly sad film all in all).

 

[punkrockcaveman]

More of a browse than a read but good none the less

 

[bobnewboy]

View attachment 72195

More of a browse than a read but good none the less

I got that one for Christmas. A good thing to dive into when the fancy takes.

 

[Wander]

I'm currently about half way through The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
I'm no stranger to Plath's work, having read many of her poems and collected letters before.
Just never got round to reading her only novel - The Bell Jar.
I must confess to being totally in love with Plath and haunted by her at the same time. It's been a very long time since I read any of her work and I am so glad I've finally got round to reading The Bell Jar. What an amazing read.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

 

[demographic]

Special Military Operation by Leo Tolstoy

 

[MrGrumpy]

Just started book 19 of Surviving the Evacuation by Frank Tayell

 

[British Red]

I just finished "Dusty's Diary" on Audible. It's one of their "free to members" works. If you like funny, profane, dystopian fiction I can highly recommend it - I genuinely laughed out loud more than once. If you have Audible membership, give it a whirl!

 

[Qwerty]

Recently finished 'Two Years Before the Mast' by Richard Dana. The story of an American seaman in the 1830s who sailed round the horn to California (then still owned by the Mexicans) and how life on the Californian coast was in those times. A truly fascinating read and one I will return to.

I have now moved on to Lame Deer: Sioux Medicine Man, by John Lame Deer. A reasonable read, a little preachy at times, but certainly worth the effort.

​

 

[swyn]

Recently finished 'Two Years Before the Mast' by Richard Dana. The story of an American seaman in the 1830s who sailed round the horn to California (then still owned by the Mexicans) and how life on the Californian coast was in those times. A truly fascinating read and one I will return to.

I have now moved on to Lame Deer: Sioux Medicine Man, by John Lame Deer. A reasonable read, a little preachy at times, but certainly worth the effort.

​

The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby follows in a similar theme. 1938 just before ww2 on board sailing barque Moshulu.
S

 

[Robson Valley]

Another pasta book. The author claims lots of make-ahead sauces which are not creamy cheese and not tomato-based.
My guts really like pasta, any sauce is a winner.

Cook a premeasured bag of pasta. Add a premeasured citrus (or whatever) sauce. Mushroom? Apple? Beef? Bacon?

So far, I've hit myself in the face a dozen times, I'll have to sit in a chair to finish this one.