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Let your next career move come to you.

What are you reading at the moment?

Me:

"Moving", by Jenny Eclair. The first part is told from the point of view of a slightly batty old lady who has decided to sell her house in London after 50 years. The second part is told from the point of view of a posh girl from Godalming turned slutty art student in Manchester in the 80s. Not sure where it's going yet but I like the writing style. It reminds me of Capital by John Lanchester or Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig.

You?

Am am intrigued as to what you think I am currently reading Anna to give rise to that snark.  As it goes, it is a crime thriller about a forensic expert by simon beckett.  

I do like naval history, as it goes.

What wang said.  Go get some Pratchett or sommat.

I am reading, errm nothing, nothing at all. Which is really pathetic and depressing tbh but things have been a bit mental of late.

Am am intrigued as to what you think I am currently reading Anna to give rise to that snark.  As it goes, it is a crime thriller about a forensic expert by simon beckett.  

As it happens I finished a crime thriller yesterday (which wasn't very good) and before that I read "Unnatural Causes", a non-fiction book about forensic pathology by Dr Richard Shepherd (which was very good).

I have eclectic tastes. I'm enjoying this book so far but will reserve judgement until I've finished it.

ps same re invisible women, hoolz! I almost just want to accept it exists and stop reading.

did you see the guy on twitter saying it is "terfy" because it pursues an agenda of women being biologically different?

that guy previously tried to be a feminist to get chicks but it didn't work and I guess now he's mad

I did what a fooking moron. The beauty of them calling every woman who dares to say there is any biological diff between men and women a "terf" is it shows the whole house of cards up for the nonsense it is. 

I have just started Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton. And I had a GoodReads email yesterday and now want to read:

1. Raised In Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction by Chuck Klosterman

2. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

3. The Lightest Object in the Universe: Kimi Eisele

4. This Is How You Lose The Time War: Amal El-Mohtar

 

And I have a million tons of unread books on my Kindle. Need to start digging into them.

Everything I Know About Love brought back so much nostalgia for me. Even though I couldn't really decide whether Dolly sounded like the very worst kind of rah girls we used to avoid at uni, or somebody I might be friends with now. Possibly a bit of both. But I love the way she writes about female friendships.

I am only on the first bit when she's talking about flirting with boys on MSN messenger. It makes me feel old but nostalgic! I will be reading more sur la plage a la week-end.

I would like to read more about "intelligence" agencies and their criminal ways but they do a great job keeping the info available very light 

I very much recommend and have recommended in the past:

Legacy of Ashes : Tim Weiner : 9781433201998

I'm reading the Infiltrator which is the tale of a US customs agent who posed as a drugs money launderer for years and was partly responsible for taking down BCCI after it helped him move cash round the world.

Nearly finished vol 3 of the John Jakes North & South trilogy - 2,000 pages down, 600 to go

I had Erebus lined up next but I have just downloaded Invisible Women

Just finished Portrait of a Lady - it was slow and James can be a slog but ultimately very intriguing. 

Before that Steinbeck's the Wayward Bus - great fun, like an Altman movie hopping between vivid characters.  

who needs modern shit? 

Invisible women is a typical woman's book: a long whinge. Main whinge is that there is no female Viagra. It was invented so that women could have pleasure!! There's nothing as good as having a good moan.

tbf there's also the women more likely to die horribly in car crashes

someone on the twitter is saying she doesn't believe the average woman weighs less than 76kg (as stated in the book). She reckons the author probably chose this as she weighs that. The tweeter then goes on to say she weighs over 100kg so lots of other women msut too.

100kg!

I genuinely think I don't experience a lot of problems many women do navigating the built environment because I'm taller and heavier than the average woman. 

for years my skinnier shorter female colleagues have moaned they are cold in the office when I am fine for example 

My two non-fictions on the go at the moment are:

Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan - a master class in investigative journalism.

Do Dice Play God, The Mathematics of Uncertainty - what it says on the tin but very well constructed.

And my bedtime fiction is A Game of Thrones (probably the last person in the world yet to read it)

 

 

Sails, The Infiltrator sounds like a good complement to ‘Mr Cleaner’ which is an autobiography of Bruce Aiken, one of whose clients was the CIA. He now has a radio programme on Sunday evenings focussed on people from Africa who are in prison in Hong Kong - a small, captive market

Cold Comfort Farm and Sapiens.

Cold Comfort Farm is odd.  I'm not sure I like it but will read to the end to find out where it goes.

I'm not usually a non-fiction person but Sapiens is really interesting.

 

I've nearly finished CCF so need another fiction read to move on to.

Sapient is excellent. The sequel Homo Deus less so. But of course predictions about the future (stupid phrase what else can you make predictions about) are bound to be less compelling that explanations of the past and present. But still worth reading

Cold Comfort Farm! Gosh that takes me back

Supes, yes I have read Ghost Wars, another masterpiece. In Dir S you have Steve Coll's brilliant skills uncovering, in sublimely written detail, how the US involvement in South Asia became a complete clusterf*ck...

hey super - was ghost wars the book you recommended to me? or did you recommend a movie Re intelligence agencies? 

please tell me again now that I have a bit of time

I was going to post the thing about viagra being a by-product of heart research but then thought hotnow was probably just joking/trying to get a rise out of the fettes and it would be a bit sad to do the dweeb thing when clearly he could not think it was actually invented for the purpose of female pleasure. I can't tell whether I have underestimated how clear it was or overestimated hotnow's sense of humour.

Just finished The 8 Mountains by paolo cognetti which was one of the Daunt subscription picks. Didn’t like the translation.

just started Siri Husvedt’s What I Loved. Liking it so far (also just read the new Charles Cumming which was trashy. Surprisingly so. I have had a bad run of books set in Morocco - that Tangerine which is billed as a cross between Patricia highsmith and Donna Tartt was possibly the worst book of the millennium)

it's about how we think

and the difference between conscious and unconscious thought processes

it's enlightening and humbling and should be compulsory reading for every human being

That sounds right up my alley Heff. Added it to my Kindle.

Have you read Susan Cain's book? I am tempted to say that it too should be required reading for all human beings, especially the more introverted (or parents of introverts).

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