What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

I have Killimg Commandatore lying about somewhere which I hope to read at some point. Have you read it?

Read it a while back and enjoyed it. If you like Murakami, you'll like it I think, very much in familiar territory. The previous novel was a bit sub par I thought.

Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are both worth reading imo. Not as developed as the later books and I think Murakami himself is a little dismissive of them but I like them; they're short and fun and it's interesting to see such a fascinating mind in its embryonic stages.

In my utterly pedantic hobby of reading history 😉 I am currently reading a book called "Fifth Sun, A new history of the Aztecs" by Camilla Townsend.

1st things 1st, incredible book with a fantastic and empathetic insight into the Aztec and central Mexican valley people. The discovery of near contemporary Aztec accounts and their translation totally reinterprets the Aztec and wider Mexican societies. I'd hand on heart recommend this book as the 1st step in unlearning everything you think you know about pre-Columbian central America.

There is a glaringly enormous gap IMO. In that the impact of the Yucatan and late Maya culture is only mentioned in passing and as a stepping stone to the Aztecs and the fall of Moctezuma.

The coastal culture in Mexico was notably different to the Aztecs and while the Aztecs were expanding control and demanding tribute. That expansion overlapped with the arrival of the Spanish and the Maya were one of the driving forces in coalescence of an anti-Aztec coalition that grew Cortez' force from 400 Europeans. To thousands of native levies too.

Yes the main golden age of Maya civilization was long past, they suffered a collapse similar to the Mediterranean bronze age collapse in @ 10th century and. The rump of Mayan civilization extant at the time of the Conquistadors puts a completely separate cultural history and kinship in play. Those differences drove much of the rapid success of the Europeans questing for Tenochtitlan. That important undercurrent of cultural tension is largely overlooked in this book and I would hope that it was done so deliberately, in the aim of a new book covering the Maya in depth.

The history, detail and knowledge imparted in this book completely torpedo long held notions. Cortez wasn't thought a god. Moctezuma wasn't in awe or frozen by inaction due to fear. Quite the opposite and the level of info that was gathered on the Spaniards is quite amazing.

Well worth a read and a real eye opener. It also given the loss of the Aztec and Maya libraries to 16th century Catholic iconoclasm...

Shines a light on how little we do know and how much we lost.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I watched the movies years ago and enjoyed them, so when I came across the trilogy boxset at a reasonable price last year I snapped them up.

Enjoyed the first one, second one wasn't as good but was still a decent read, and I absolutely hated the third!

I didn’t even realise there was a 4th! Think I’ll be giving that a miss!

I think the book is called Wiseguy there, unless you read a special reprint they released for the film or something... I have it on the way thanks, probably my fav film of all time and I always thought it was an original screenplay someone pitched to Scorsese not a book.

The Dead Zone, Stephen King. Really enjoying it. I've read some of his newer stuff like Doctor Sleep, but I find his older stuff much better.

I'm on book 3 so thanks for the spoiler

About to start One Day , David Nicholls, its being here for months but I haven't touched it. But I know when I start I'll read like hell, so ordered The Bell Jar and Ariel by Sylvia Plath. I had a library that I used to go back to and finish/ reread books but ex used to bin them I discovered 🤬.

Ashamed to say that I am giving up on The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Don't get me wrong, I loved The Hobbit and The LOTR trilogy but God this is an awful slog. Could only get through the first 11 chapters and it wasn't getting any better.

I can't even say that it's going in one ear and out the other because nothing at all is sticking with me. I think it would be easier to read Shakespeare given the style of language used (not a Shakespeare fan at all, the only exposure to his work that I have had was via the JC and LC).

It took me forever to read it years ago.

I can't even imagine if I was reading it in English now...

And ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’, which was made into the film ‘Village of the Damned’.

Was a question on University Challenge there the other week. Which I got, of course.

"The Age of Voltaire: A History of Civilization in Western Europe from 1715 to 1756" by Will and Ariel Durant

This book is one of my favourites and I take it down off the shelf and re-read the opening chapters on French society regularly.

There are sections on Britain, the Germans and Switzerland as well.

It's mainly about society, art, culture, philosophy and religion at the time. A few chapters are devoted to Voltaire's life.

Hope you like it.

I'm reading a novel written in eighteenth century France at the moment , "Dangerous Liaisons" by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.

Some of the small social details are interesting. When a character is getting new shoes the cobbler calls to their house to measure their feet.