[-0-]'s Reading Log

[-0-]

2012:

• A Universe from Nothing by Laurence Krauss
• Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
• Thomas Jefferson (Eminent Lives) by Christopher Hitchens
• Blood, Class and Empire: The Enduring Anglo-American Relationship (Nation Books) by Christopher Hitchens
• Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens
• The Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism--The Very Best of Christopher Hitchens by Christopher Hitchens
• The Enemy by Christopher Hitchens
• Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
• The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
• The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish by Christopher Hitchens
• Our Cosmic Habitat by Martin Rees
• Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell
• Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley
• The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever by Christopher Htichens
• Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) by Christopher Hitchens
• Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Htichens
• The Strange Death of Liberal England by Christopher Hitchens
• God, No! by Penn Jillette
• Lying by Sam Harris
• White Fang by Jack London
• Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Time Machine by H.G Wells
• Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman
• The Hobbit J.R.R Tolkien
• Nostos by John Moriarty
• The Missionary Position by Christopher Hitchens
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
• Serious Sounds by John Moriarty
• What the Curlew Said: Nostos Continued by John Moriarty
• Dreamtime by John Moriarty
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• The Rachael Papers by Martin Amis
• Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie
• The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams
• Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays by George Orwell
• The Jefferson Bible by Thomas Jefferson
  

2013:

• On Another Man's Wound - Ernie O'Malley
• The Living Flame - Ernie O'Malley
• The Men Will Talk to Me - Ernie O'Malley
• Raids and Rallies - Ernie O'Malley
• Guerilla Days in Ireland - Tom Barry
• My Fight for Irish Freedom - Dan Breen
• Our Struggle for Independence - Terrance O'Reilly
• The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary - Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
• Socialism and the Irish Rebellion - James Connolly
• The Re-Conquest of Ireland - James Connolly
• The Worker's Republic - James Connolly
• Armed Struggle - Richard English
• Writings from Prison - Bobby Sands
• To Hell or Barbados - Sean O'Callaghan
• Blanketmen - Richard O'Rawe
• Trinity - Leon Uris
• Confessions of An Irish Rebel - Brendan Behan
• Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike - David Beresford, Peter Maas

All of these were brilliant. My favourite being On Another Man's Wound. Ernie could really write, and his descriptive writing, especially while in the Irish country side was wonderful.

• Dead Drunk - Paul Garrigan

A certain eye opener and not a bad effort. Definitely a book I would recommend for people interested in alcoholism.

• Diaries - George Orwell

A very interesting account of the man's life, and well worth reading. He hated the Irish, and was fairly racist it has to be said. He hated the Jews as well, didn't like the smell of them. Definitely an eye opener.

• The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic - Frank Lambert

A fantastic account of the 33 year Barbary conflict, one which firmly put the free trade argument in place and dispelled the "religious war" nonsense. A definitive account of who the early presidents thought about the future of America.

• Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (Books that changed the world) - Christopher Hitchens
• No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton - Christopher Hitchens

Both brilliant reads. The Clinton book was phenomenal!

• War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

This was a great read. Not as tough as I thought it was going to be. With very little words, great imagery was presented. The overall volume is quite large, and it is one of my favourite books.

I'm currently re-reading Arguably by Hitchens, and working my way through books he reviews and recommends. That's where the book on The Barbary Wars came from. Next up is Benjamin Franklin Unmasked by Jerry Weinberger, Then Franklin's autobiography, and then this little gem: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226143899 followed by Burlingame's definitive effort on Lincoln: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801889936

That should keep me busy for the rest of the year, I hope.

[-0-]

Not sure why, but I read Kingsley Amis' Everyday Drinking this evening. Quite fun, and really put me in the mood for a glass of Glenmorangie.

[-0-]

About half way through Benjamin Franklin Unmasked by Jerry Weinberger. I'm loving it so far. Parts of it are hard to get through. He leads you down rat holes, with mazes and puzzles and everything! I do love Franklin's Socratic discourse. While challenging, it is certainly worth the reward.

I'm hoping to finish it by the weekend.

[-0-]

Finished Benjamin Franklin Unmasked earlier than expected. Fascinating read. I won't ruin it for anyone who wants to read it, but Weinberger makes some very very strong cases. What a cryptic guy he was! The Socrates of the 1700s for sure. A seriously funny guy.

I started Slouching Towards Kalamazoo by Peter De Vries last night. Excellent read so far. Hoping to finish it in the next couple of days.

[-0-]

Half way through Slouching Towards Kalamanzoo. TBH you could read it in a day, but I've not been well lately.

It's a favourite of mine already!

[-0-]

Finished Slouching Towards Kalamazoo. Fantastic book with a large range of vocabulary. I laughed about a dozen times. Highly recommended.

Next up, Lethal Allies: Britain's Secret War in Ireland by Anne, Cadwallader.

I'll go back to Franklin after this.

[-0-]

[-0-] wrote: »

Next up, Lethal Allies: Britain's Secret War in Ireland by Anne, Cadwallader.

What a difficult read; simply because of how moving it was. I could not put this book down. I have so many notes in my kindle, which I will often refer back to.

To quote the opening part of the conclusion:

It is easy for those who have not suffered bereavement and injustice to lecture those, who have, about ‘moving on’. Easy and insulting. Moving on is impossible when the truth lies buried in a barren field in County Armagh without a headstone. Clichés are not enough for families who were not only bereaved but also ignored for nearly half a century and then fed lies. What future does any community have that refuses to uncover or understand the truths of its recent past?
The inescapable fact, established beyond doubt by these events, is that successive British governments and their law enforcement agencies entered into a collusive counter-insurgency campaign with loyalist paramilitaries. It was thoroughly unethical - and it failed dismally. It was also illegal under international law.

[-0-]

I'll leave Franklin for a while. Reading Voices from the Grave by Ed Moloney.

[-0-]

[-0-] wrote: »

I'll leave Franklin for a while. Reading Voices from the Grave by Ed Moloney.

Voices from the Grave was a great read. I'm not sure what to make of a lot of what was said. I do believe The Dark, without question.

[-0-]

Starting Unacknowledged Legislation by Christopher Hitchens.

[-0-]

[-0-] wrote: »

Starting Unacknowledged Legislation by Christopher Hitchens.

This is a book I will have to read again when I have more familiarity with the writers Hitchens talks about. Some of the chapters went way over my head. Still, it was a fantastic read and one I highly recommend.

Currently reading Franklin's autobiography. Finally! :pac:

[-0-]

Franklin's autobiography was wonderful. It's a short enough read(130 odd pages). The man was extremely funny, I laughed quite a bit a long the way. He was an extremely smart and virtuous man, and a model for all men. Impressive.

I'm re-reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I have a feeling it will be even better on the second attempt.

[-0-]

[-0-] wrote: »

Franklin's autobiography was wonderful. It's a short enough read(130 odd pages). The man was extremely funny, I laughed quite a bit a long the way. He was an extremely smart and virtuous man, and a model for all men. Impressive.

I'm re-reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I have a feeling it will be even better on the second attempt.

Finished this in one sitting. Still not as good as 1984 but it paved the way for it. The Hitchens foreword is just wonderful.

Re-reading Dreamtime by John Moriarty. Going to take my time with this one and let it sink it. May take me until the end of the year.

[-0-]

[-0-] wrote: »

Finished this in one sitting. Still not as good as 1984 but it paved the way for it. The Hitchens foreword is just wonderful.

Re-reading Dreamtime by John Moriarty. Going to take my time with this one and let it sink it. May take me until the end of the year.

Great read. John was a nut.

Re-reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy now.

Turtwig

[-0-] wrote: »

Re-reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy now.

I reference that book far too much in my posts!:o

[-0-]

Jernal wrote: »

I reference that book far too much in my posts!:o

I loves it!

Definitely one of my favourites. Have you read The Salmon of Doubt?

Banneret

nice reading log, keep them coming please

[-0-]

Finished Dreamtime - wonderful wonderful book.

Currently reading Night Journey to Buddh Gaia by John Moriarty. This may take a while.

[-0-]

Finished Dreamtime - wonderful wonderful book.

Currently reading Night Journey to Buddh Gaia by John Moriarty. This may take a while.

[-0-]

Christ this book is unbelievably good. I've read a few of John's other works but this is outstanding. Absolutely outstanding.

[-0-]

Taking a short break from Night Journey to Buddh Gaia to read The Irish Americans by Jay P. Dolan. A gift from my wife for Christmas.

[-0-]

[-0-] wrote: »

Taking a short break from Night Journey to Buddh Gaia to read The Irish Americans by Jay P. Dolan. A gift from my wife for Christmas.

What a great book this was! I absolutely loved it. I'm going to remain on a break from Buddh Gaia and I've started reading this epic: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801889936

It's a 2008 page book about Lincoln, in two parts. This will take me ages, so I don't expect to read too many books this year. 2014 is a year where I tackle all of the big books I've been putting off.

Turtwig

[-0-] wrote: »

I loves it!

Definitely one of my favourites. Have you read The Salmon of Doubt?

No believe it or not. I only realised late last year that Hitchhiker's trilogy was more than 3 books. It was only upon further investigation that I learned about the Salmon Book.

[-0-]

Jernal wrote: »

No believe it or not. I only realised late last year that Hitchhiker's trilogy was more than 3 books. It was only upon further investigation that I learned about the Salmon Book.

It's well worth reading.