Next book...

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 WaterMonkey 07 Aug 2019

So in my quest to read 1 book a month this year I've thus far read:

Up - Ben Fogle
This game of ghosts - Joe Simpson
Alone on the wall - Alex Honnold
9 out of 10 climbers - Dave Macleod
The fittest book in the world - Ross Edgley
Clouds from both sides - Julie Tullis

I need to crack on with my next book and i'm not sure what to go for. We've got "The tattooist of Auschwitz" at home, so do I go for a break from the climbing/adventure books and read that or do I download Kurt Diemberger's The endless knot and read his account of the K2 tragedy which sadly killed Julie Tullis after she'd written the above book?

Or something else..

 subtle 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

Go for a break from climbing / advneture and try:

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

OP WaterMonkey 07 Aug 2019
In reply to subtle:

Gets some pretty poor reviews on Amazon!

 Blue Straggler 07 Aug 2019
In reply to subtle:

by coincidence a friend recommended that one to me. I looked it up online and it looks a bit rubbish - just trite and obvious stuff dressed up in some faux-punk language. Convince me otherwise, please, at least so I can respect my friend a bit more  

In reply to WaterMonkey:

It's a complete change of direction for you, but I've recently enjoyed reading Scrublands, by Chris Hammer.  Expertly conjures up the heat of small town Australia, making it a nice summer read (also making you thankful that the UK isn't quite that unforgiving).

What with this and Jane Harper's books, I've found myself reading a bit of Australian crime fiction recently.  Very good it's been too.

T.

In reply to WaterMonkey:

Stick with climbing and try 'Punk in the gym' brilliantly chaotic!.

pasbury 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

I'm reading The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby and enjoying it very much. In 1938 Newby joined the crew of a barque bound for Australia to carry grain back home, circumnavigating the world in an incredibly tough (but at the time routine) journey.

There's a lot of sailing terminology to get through but it's a great tale, Newby is wryly funny and brilliant at describing people.

OP WaterMonkey 07 Aug 2019
In reply to pasbury:

Now that looks interesting, especially as I love sailing too! I read Joshua Slocum's round the world book last year and loved it.

OP WaterMonkey 07 Aug 2019
In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

That looks like it'll be entertaining. Expensive for a kindle book though!

 subtle 07 Aug 2019
In reply to Blue Straggler:

> by coincidence a friend recommended that one to me. I looked it up online and it looks a bit rubbish - just trite and obvious stuff dressed up in some faux-punk language. Convince me otherwise, please, at least so I can respect my friend a bit more  

Same could be said about any "self help" book, but I grant you, it is full of soundbyte type stuff - was given it on holiday and read some of it, didnt finish it (or get that far) - was being my usual flippant self when "recommending" it - sorry WaterMonkey, me bad!

One recent book I did genuinely enjoy however was  Kerby by Graeme Johnston - tales of growing up in Scotland the 90’s but relatable to most locations and eras 

I must admit I went through a phase of reading "adventure" books but they all got a bit samey - although one that sticks out in the mind is Lost in Mongolia: Rafting the World's Last Unchallenged River by Colin Angus, that may appeal to WaterMonkey

 Carless 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

Have a read of Barrow's Boys https://www.amazon.co.uk/BarrowS-Boys-Fergus-Fleming/dp/1862075026

Several excellent stories of exploration, adventure, sailing and outright lunacy

 katyc 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

The Tatooist is a wonderful book, thought provoking and heartbreaking. 

 colinakmc 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

Don’t let me discourage you from reading a non climbing book but Wade Davis’s “into the Silence” about the 1920’s Everest expeditions, I found an outstanding read because of its sheer range and it’s evocation of the last era of exploration.

 freeflyer 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

In that case, anything by H.W. Tilman. Proper adventuring.

pasbury 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

Another book that’s given me a kick up the backside recently is Strange Labyrinth by Will Ashon. Ostensibly about dicking about in Epping Forest and failing to find things he’s looking for, it’s actually a very political book about the repossession of the commons, dispossessed artists, Crass ((the band) through interviews with Penny Rimbaud), and various other outsiders.

Loaded with authorial dialogue and contact with the reader. It’s unique and quite a ride.

The tagline is “Outlaws, Poets, Mystics, Murderers and a coward in London’s Great Forest”.

Post edited at 19:21
 MonkeyPuzzle 07 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

This is Going to Hurt - Adam Kay. Anger-inducing, sad, but mainly very very funny. Only read in public if you don't mind laughing like a lion. 

 Siward 07 Aug 2019
In reply to pasbury:

Seconded. And if mountaineering is the OPs bag, then A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by the same is a masterpiece 

 hokkyokusei 07 Aug 2019
In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

> This is Going to Hurt - Adam Kay. Anger-inducing, sad, but mainly very very funny. Only read in public if you don't mind laughing like a lion. 

... and if you like that, try The Secret Barrister (Stories of the Law and how it's broken) not as funny, but just as worthwhile reading.

In reply to WaterMonkey:

The tattooist is a terrible book. A great story ruined by being written appallingly. There are dozens of books on The Holocaust and Auschwitz that will give you a far better insight to the horror. 

Eyewitness Aushwitz by Filip Muller is a good place to start. 

 DaveHK 07 Aug 2019
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

> Eyewitness Aushwitz by Filip Muller is a good place to start. 

Or 'If This is a Man' by Primo Levi. 

Post edited at 23:18
pasbury 07 Aug 2019
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

Perhaps If This Is a Man by Primo Levi should be mentioned as a most affecting book about this subject.

 Pbob 08 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Everyone's knows the title, but I imagine much fewer have read it. It's 'interesting' and definitely thought-provoking but I'd struggle to call it a page-turner.

 freeflyer 08 Aug 2019
In reply to pasbury:

Or if you want a lighter weight and thoroughly entertaining book about Primo Levi's commercial experiences as a chemist, try The Periodic Table. There is one story per element; fabulous, now I must see if I still have my copy or if it got borrowed

In reply to Pbob:

I found Zen... a page turner (about 45 years ago!). Outstanding.

 rogerwebb 08 Aug 2019
In reply to DaveHK:

> Or 'If This is a Man' by Primo Levi. 

Yes

And 'The sorrow of war' by Bao Ninh.

A North Vietnamese veteran tries to comes to terms with his disrupted life. A book banned by his government and one of the most human stories I have ever read. On a par with 'If this is a man' 

 jockster 08 Aug 2019
In reply to rogerwebb:

In the same vein, "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families" is a truly harrowing account of the Rwandan genocide. Hard reading.

pasbury 08 Aug 2019
In reply to freeflyer:

Yes, really good book, any others by Levi?

 DaveHK 08 Aug 2019
In reply to pasbury:

> Yes, really good book, any others by Levi?

If Not Now, When? is one of his best IMO.

 freeflyer 08 Aug 2019
In reply to pasbury:

My favourite with respect to the war and the Jewish experience is the Drowned and the Saved. It is not at all an easy read as it contains the idea that the Jews were somehow responsible for their fate, and that those who died (the Saved) were those that took on the responsibility, and those that did not die (the Drowned) were those that survived and were in some way compromised by their decisions. Yikes.

 kevin stephens 08 Aug 2019
In reply to John Stainforth:

> I found Zen... a page turner (about 45 years ago!). Outstanding.

I’ve read  it 4 times over the decades, each time getting something new from it

In reply to WaterMonkey:

May I recommend Halldor Laxness's 'Independent People'. Laxness won Iceland's only Nobel Prize for his writing. It is about a sheep farmer trying to make it in southern Iceland. 

A tough people making Alpinists look like brownies (nothing against brownies). 

 tlouth7 09 Aug 2019
In reply to pasbury:

> I'm reading The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby and enjoying it very much.

As well as the excellent writing, I can't get over the photos he took; using 1930s technology, up the mast, in a gale. There is another book the name of which I forget which collects many more photos from the trip and makes a nice companion.

A Brief History of Time is actually very good if OP is looking for non-climbing non-fiction, or if he still has an appetite for mountains I notice Touching the Void is conspicuous in its absence.

OP WaterMonkey 09 Aug 2019
In reply to tlouth7:

> A Brief History of Time is actually very good if OP is looking for non-climbing non-fiction, or if he still has an appetite for mountains I notice Touching the Void is conspicuous in its absence.

Both great books, read them a while ago. Then I got my daughter (at quite a young age) to read A brief history of time, which then spurred her on and she is now studying astrophysics at uni!

 rogerwebb 09 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

On a less heavy note,

Neutral Buoyancy, Adventures in a Liquid World. Tim Ecott

A book that makes you want to take up diving.

A subculture as absorbing as climbing 

pasbury 09 Aug 2019
In reply to tlouth7:

Yes, plus his camera got soaked in saltwater during a storm and he spent several weeks getting it working again. The description of the storm in the southern ocean is exceptionally vivid and moving. He was 18 at the time I believe.

In reply to pasbury:

I have read several accounts by sailors of tackling the Southern Ocean and none comes near to Eric Newby's description. His pictures are phenomenal. One of my favourite books about the sea.

 Blue Straggler 12 Aug 2019
In reply to subtle:

> One recent book I did genuinely enjoy however was  Kerby by Graeme Johnston - tales of growing up in Scotland the 90’s but relatable to most locations and eras 


This sounds fun!

In reply to tlouth7:

I like all of Eric Newby's books, the Hind Kush story was our inspiration for a trip out there.

In my humble opinion Fiva by Gordon Stainforth (of this parish) rivals Touching the Void for suspense and I often wonder which way round they would be compared if Fiva had been published first.

 jockster 13 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

Another book suggestion that is not an easy read.... but an absolutely terrifying view of what our political near future holds.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Money-secretive-billionaires-political/dp/192...

 subtle 13 Aug 2019
In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

> In my humble opinion Fiva by Gordon Stainforth (of this parish) rivals Touching the Void for suspense and I often wonder which way round they would be compared if Fiva had been published first.

Hmm, perhaps I should get round to reading it

 DerwentDiluted 13 Aug 2019
In reply to pasbury:

> Yes, really good book, any others by Levi?

The Drowned and the Saved, and Moments of Reprieve are well worth seeking out. As is The Periodic Table - for 'Carbon' alone. 

+1 for If not now, When?

 mbh 13 Aug 2019
In reply to jockster:

God, yes, I remember that one.

 Tom Last 13 Aug 2019
In reply to WaterMonkey:

I’m way up on the north coast currently, so I’m going to recommend Beside the Ocean of Time, by George Mackay Brown.

 Harry Jarvis 14 Aug 2019
In reply to Tom Last:

> I’m way up on the north coast currently, so I’m going to recommend Beside the Ocean of Time, by George Mackay Brown.

What an excellent suggestion. A beautiful book. 

On a different note, I'm currently reading The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall. It's a fascinating account of the bizarre behaviour of Crowhurst in the round-the-world yacht race in 1968/69.  


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