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"Straight White Male" by John Niven.
A return to "Kill Your Friends" over the top debauchery, drugs, sick sex nastiness from one of the (imo) funniest and best novelists writing today.
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Just started the book, and it is very very entertaining. Good review here: Straight White Male by John Niven ? review | Books | The Guardian
Just started this one and it seems to be a good read so far:
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"In 1934, sixteen-year-old Weldon Avery Holland happens upon infamous criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow after one of their notorious armed robberies. A confrontation with the outlaws ends with Weldon firing a gun and being unsure whether it hit its mark.
Ten years later, Second Lieutenant Weldon Holland barely survives the Battle of the Bulge, in the process saving the lives of his sergeant, Hershel Pine, and a young Spanish prisoner of war, Rosita Lowenstein—a woman who holds the same romantic power over him as the strawberry blonde Bonnie Parker, and is equally mysterious. The three return to Texas where Weldon and Hershel get in on the ground floor of the nascent oil business."
This is the first of James Lee Burke's novels I've ever picked up. Looks like he's a pretty prolific writer.
A Kingdom in Crisis.........Yet another book banned in Thailand
You are in for a lot of reading. He is my favorite author. I have read every word he has ever had published. A real gift for language. Enjoy! This may be your first, but it won't be your last.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boon Mee
Well written and researched.Quote:
Originally Posted by KEVIN2008
Even though the author is a wanker with a bug up his arse.
Doesn't truly have a heart for the place nor real familial/social connections, except for his wife - who is one of these Thai converts into Farang way.
Has no consciousness towards The Kingdom.
More about book sells.
I'm currently reading it, it's quite a good read.Quote:
Originally Posted by KEVIN2008
Reading shite right now...But some good suggestions here...
this thread needs more input
Austrialian Tragic - Gripping tales from the dark side of our history - Jack Marx
good reading - was interesting to read the other side of the story to hookes getting punched - what never made the papers
To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War by John GiblerQuote:
THE AUSTRALIAN - Roy Williams | September 12, 2009
Penny dreadful approach gives crime back to the people
I HAD low expectations of this book. Recent Australian specimens of the true-crime genre - at least, those I have sampled - have not had much to recommend them. Most combined cliche-ridden writing and sloppy research with salacious attention to the nastiest sorts of detail.
Jack Marx's Australian Tragic is in a class apart. There are 20 tales in all and the subjects range widely, from famous national tragedies (the Black Friday bushfires of 1939, for instance, and the Port Arthur massacre of 1996) to some scandalous cases that reached the criminal courts.
There are also heart-rending private dramas largely unknown to, or long forgotten by, the public.
To be sure, many of the episodes recounted in the book are deeply disturbing, some bordering on the grisly and grotesque.
disturbing , but very interesting - makes a statement that it is believed that drug money was the only thing that kept banks solvent enough to survive the 2009 financial crisis
Undercover The True Story of Britain's Secret Police - PAul Lewis and Rob EvansQuote:
John Gibler’s new book To Die in Mexico opens with a warning: "You may want to look away." It is true that the contents are not exactly pleasant, in fact, Gibler’s tales from Mexico will horrify, over and over again.
But To Die in Mexico brings to the table more than just nota roja, a term used to describe sensationalist coverage of violence that dominates Mexico’s newsstands.
Gibler avoids the standard fare and serves up an accessible, multi-faceted analysis of the drug war, complemented by compelling dispatches from journalists and activists based in places like Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state and home of Mexico’s most powerful cartel; Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state’s most notorious city; and Reynosa, the biggest border city in Tamaulipas state, where journalism was declared “dead” last year.
Regardless of how closely readers are following what’s going on south of the US border, this book is a worthwhile introduction. It shatters the silence that has become an essential part of the escalating drug war.
“This is what you cannot say: death is a part of the overhead, a business expense in the multibillion-dollar transnational illegal industry; the Mexican army and federal police are on the take, waging a war of extermination against suspected drug dealers and traffickers aligned with organizations that the federal government considers unruly or threatening, principally the Beltrán-Leyva gang and the Zetas,” writes Gibler in the introduction.
The poms are quite good at spying on their own citizens
Quote:
Established in the late 1960s, and eventually disbanded in 2008, the SDS’s focus was broad. Rather like the Special Branch that had spawned it, an initial concern with subversives – those considered a likely threat to the state – quickly expanded to incorporate a very wide range of political and protest groups: animal rights protesters, the anti-apartheid movement, the International Marxist Group, protesters at Greenham Common, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Anti-Nazi League among many others. What set the SDS apart was their core tactic: living the life of a protestor. SDS operatives gave up their warrant cards (their police identity), changed their names, grew their hair, changed their appearances and sought to establish personal relationships with their targets.
Very dark topics . . . you need to read Strawberry Lollypops to unwind . . . or watch Frankie Boyle's 'The Last Days of Sodom' like I just did.
The man is . . . <head-shaking> . . . funny
400 things Cops know - Mark Plantinga
this book was quite fun to read
much of it was common dog fcuk , but it was still worthwhile
Quote:
“400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman.” Written by a San Francisco police sergeant, the book has managed to capture the attention of top crime writers—a feat for an obscure title that has sold fewer than 2,500 copies.
The book attempts to debunk the myths about police work made popular on TV (for example, nobody kicks down a door in one try, especially not guys who are Hollywood skinny). The 400 things in the book might be personal vignettes, trade secrets and observations about the criminal mind. The nonfiction work is full of mildly subversive asides, like the one about police hats—which, according to Mr. Plantinga, not only have a tendency to pouf out and make their wearers look like chefs, but also provide targets for bad guys thanks to their shiny gold shields centered above the brim.
Re-reading all of the Bukowski novels.
Charles Bukowski - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm currently reading this...
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With such a broad overview it doesn't focus much on the intense personal experiences that made his previous books, (Stalingrad, Berlin) so gripping. It's written with a command level view that does well to expose the reality behind the historical propaganda and highlights many of the actions overshadowed by better recorded battles.
Searching around for a book to read on the flight home, I found: "A Delicate Truth" by John le Carre.
It didn't disappoint and I have now found a pdf version for those who might fancy a read:
http://vk.com/doc203243204_208319550?hash=5e82e30c4c23c8f7e9&dl= 8fc3aae48bdb885b
Well written, the typical le Carre spy story is set in the Blair era and has a couple of nice cynical digs at the Iraq war.
Thanks, Troy. Could've greened you but for :ourrules:
Finally finished "Citizens" about the French revolution.
What a bunch of screwups.
Starting in on Crucible of War, the Seven years War.
About the French and Indian wars immediately prior to the Revolutionary war.
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A short History of Stupid - Helen Razer and Bernard Keane
this was a good read , though some of Helen's philosophy stuff was a bit heavy going
it was well worth the effort required in some parts and I do recommend it
Last Man Out- A Personal Account of the Vietnam War - James E Parker JrQuote:
At times, Stupid reads as though the idea were proclaimed by Oracle and the authors given a few months to tailor their prose to it. It’s less like observing a sausage factory, more like being hammered by a meat tenderiser. Our two authors wander through a land of Perpetual Grievance, slaying Stupid as they encounter it, but only after travelling back through time to wrestle with its forbears. Like a pantomime, we’re left shouting for a hero to make an appearance: an editor.
this was an interesting read , nice perspective
rereading Leon Uris Mila 18, a novel account of the Warsaw ghetto through the whole shitty WWII, just to remind myself that human depravity can sink to unbelievable depths and enthrall much of the human race at the same time. Thank God for all fighters of any democratic persuasion, not that they have to realize they have any.
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Reading another good Charles Todd novel starring Inspector Ian Rutledge.
These Charles Todd authors (mother & son team) do quite well.:)
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Some fun stuff there, guys...I'm stuck with an old dog-eared copy of The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)...Read when it first came out, and I guess it's one of those exercises where your second reading, years later, makes you wonder more about your perception rather than the subject matter...
Break down and get a Kindle.Quote:
Originally Posted by BaitongBoy
Best reading device ever invented :)
^I know...Worse yet, I have a kobo sitting right in front of me...But have never read a book yet!...If I ever start, I doubt I'll be on TD much...
Can u read free e-books on it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Boon Mee
^That is the 64 dollar question...
Most definitely.Quote:
Originally Posted by wjblaney
Log onto Priate Bay and go to town on the selections available. :)