Grand unified books thread

[mongers]

What's your local library like in terms of books and other facilities?

I ask because I went in the library of my childhood hometown last week, I knew it was being re-arranged but it must now have half the number of books to previously.

Now it's a large open space, with a few low rows of book shelving widely spread apart with large areas designated as meeting places, child play areas, computers, automated tills etc.

I guess it's progress, but it was purpose built library from the 1960s and when I was a child it was filled form floor to ceiling, well 6ft, with closely arranged regimented shelving. There could have been 10 times* as many books then as now, if I had to guess. 


* unreliable childhood memory may have distorted this number?

[Syt]

I've never been to the library in Vienna, mostly because their opening hours interfere with my work schedule (I'd have about half an hour in the evening, or I'd have to rush through on a Saturday).

I loved browsing libraries as a kid and young adult. My main gripe was a lack of English language books. My hometown library in Germany won federal prizes and was well stocked and one of the first to jump on the multimedia train so they stocked CDs, DVDs, and computer games. And friends and I occasionally skipped Friday class to play board games there.

[The Brain]

I grew up 150 yds from Stockholm Public Library. They had a lot of books and I read a lot of them. I haven't been in years, I'm sure they have more non-book stuff now than in the olden days but AFAIK they still have a lot of books.

[Malthus]

Currently re-reading HHhH by Laurent Binet (Trans. Sam Taylor), one of my favorite French authors.

Brilliant recounting of the life and death of top Nazi Heydrich, and the men who killed him; and of the process of writing and nature of history itself.

[Habbaku]

Can anyone recommend a policy-/action-centric study of either the Carter or Reagan Presidencies? I'm far more interested in the history of their actions in office rather than the hagiographies and politically-tribal works that typically come out about Presidents.

[Syt]

I was picking up a history magazine about the Cold War the other day at the book store, and they also had a new Cold War book that came out in 2017: The Cold War: A World History by Odd Arne Westad

https://www.amazon.com/Cold-War-World-History/dp/0465054935

Two chapters in, liking it so far.

Finished the book. At over 600 pages it's mostly chronicling events around the world. Where other histories focus on Europe/USSR/China he covers events in Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America in reasonable detail. However, with the volume of events, the book is IMHO not much more than a chronicle, with not much analysis. Very readable, though, and IMHO a starting point to pick topics for more detailed reading.

[Razgovory]

I'm now reading a book on Judaism in Western Europe between 1000-1500.  I'm doing this weird medieval thing where I alternate between history books on the Middle Ages and contemporary medieval literature. For instance I read a book about Venice and then go onto read the Canterbury tales.

[garbon]

Freaky

[Eddie Teach]

Do you read them in Chaucerian English?

[Razgovory]

Do you read them in Chaucerian English?

No, I tried that.  Chauncer was enough of a chore as it was, I didn't want to make it even longer.  Even translated into modern English it mostly rhymes.  For some reason I find the rhyming couplets trite and kind of annoying.

[Syt]

Do you read them in Chaucerian English?

No, I tried that.  Chauncer was enough of a chore as it was, I didn't want to make it even longer.  Even translated into modern English it mostly rhymes.  For some reason I find the rhyming couplets trite and kind of annoying.

Don't read the original Song of the Nibelungs, then. Used to be able to read it quite well, but it's been many years since I flxed that Medieval German muscle (and yes, it's rhyming couplets).

I'm struggling with original Chaucer. Shakespeare is mostly fine, but Chaucer is a bit too far.

[11B4V]

On learned folks,

Is there a book in English covering The Black Army of Hungary?

[Savonarola]

I finished Katharine Anne Porter's "Ship of Fools."  It's the story of a boat sailing from Mexico to Germany in the 1930s.  It's content, I think, is best summarized by Tom Lehrer:

All the rich folk hate the poor folk
And all the poor folk hate the rich folk
All of my folk hate all of your folk
It's an old established rule

All the Protestants hate the Catholics
And all the Catholics hate the Protestants
All the Hindus hate the Muslims
And everyone hates the Jews



It's supposed to be a parable where the boat stands for civilization and the passengers represent their nations in the era when the world is sliding towards the Second World War.  Porter made a trip like this, and based a number of characters on the ship on her traveling companions.  The book has its moments but some of it drags and the parable never seems to take off.  It might have worked better as a cycle of short stories.  While this is Porter's best known work (or at least the one that was made into a movie) her short stories are usually much better.

[Savonarola]

I read Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg Ohio," and learned that everyone from Ohio is a degenerate low life.   



The book is a series of short stories all set in a small town.  At first they seem like rambling small town gossip, where nothing much seems to happen.  In time various themes start to emerge and an overarching narrative forms.  I thought it was quite clever.  At the time of its publication critics hailed Anderson as an American Realist and unfortunately he spent the rest of his life trying to be Theodore Dreiser.  Today the book is valued for its depiction of pre-industrial small town America, as well as its style (which actually wasn't realist at all.  The book does decry consumer capitalism, but more as a nostalgic look backwards rather than an eyes-in-the-gutter social critique.)

[crazy canuck]

I finished Katharine Anne Porter's "Ship of Fools."  It's the story of a boat sailing from Mexico to Germany in the 1930s.  It's content, I think, is best summarized by Tom Lehrer:

All the rich folk hate the poor folk
And all the poor folk hate the rich folk
All of my folk hate all of your folk
It's an old established rule

All the Protestants hate the Catholics
And all the Catholics hate the Protestants
All the Hindus hate the Muslims
And everyone hates the Jews



It's supposed to be a parable where the boat stands for civilization and the passengers represent their nations in the era when the world is sliding towards the Second World War.  Porter made a trip like this, and based a number of characters on the ship on her traveling companions.  The book has its moments but some of it drags and the parable never seems to take off.  It might have worked better as a cycle of short stories.  While this is Porter's best known work (or at least the one that was made into a movie) her short stories are usually much better.

I liked the movie