What are you reading right now?

[LurkNoMore]

"Woman are like chamber pots; something you want to hide away after a man has pissed in it."

Man, what a jackass. Your supposed to hide them away before then.

Anyway...

I recently finished two great novels. I wont say either is a work of art. However they were both quite enjoyable reads.

Spoiler: Wolves on the Border

Wolves on the border is a simple tell of a band of mercenaries taking employ in one of the several waring states of the inner sphere. Only to be eventually be betrayed by those same employers. Its a tell that no doubt has been told before and could easily be told without the presence of massive walking robots. And while it says battletech right across the top, you don't really need any knowledge of the game to read it. With the walking behemoths being more scenery than actor on the proverbial stage of the novel. If your into military sci-fi from the past century, then please give it a look.

Spoiler: The Shootist

The shootist is a novel most famous for what it became and not because of itself. Namely becoming the last performance of the great John Wayne before his death by cancer. The novel follows the story of one of the last gunfighters of the west in the town of El Paso (the movie would move the story to Carson City Nevada). There J. B. Books, self-titled the shootist, learns he is dying of cancer. No doubt one of the reasons Wayne himself took the role. Of course with such a reputation, it isn't long before Books attracts all sorts of attention. Causing a great bit of head ache for the citizens of the town and by that I mean, putting some gaint holes in some of them. I won't spoil the end, but suffice to say we eventually get the saloon shoot out scene which so typified John Waynes acting career. I recommend both the movie and the book. There are some key differences between them, for example the town, but they are both worth a look.

 

[Weeb_Killer]

Just finishing "Witches, James I and the English Witch-Hunts" by Tracy Borman.

Damned thing's infuriating. I already knew the history and the social, economic, and political implications but THIS BOOK (if yer a woman) makes you wanna go out and KICK the first guy you find. With such lovely quotes from "authorities" as (slightly paraphrasing) "Woman are like chamber pots; something you want to hide away after a man has pissed in it." And other sage quips by a bunch of sadistic, perverted witch hunters, "holy" men, and fucking asshole medieval lawyers.

Now excuse me while I go stick pins in a buncha vaguely man-shaped blobs of wax.

Gonna have to read that. I use to think the whole "muh patriarchy" schitck was just a bunch of whiney upper middle class slags failing to recognise their place, but when you look into the history behind witches you kind of get their point.

I read "The Immortality Key" by Brian C. Murakresku which is a detailed look into the origins of Christianity and the potential uses of a psychedelic sacrament that the first followers of Christ used to convert people from their pagan beliefs. I highly recommend it. Before monotheism took hold, women were the priestesses. They brewed the sacraments, the medicines. They were the experts in pharmacology, passing their knowledge down through the generations from mother to daughter, and were the ones that guided you through the various death ceremonies that existed and the Elysian Mysteries which this book is centered around. It's no coincidence either that most of the soothsayers and oracles in antiquity were women also (**minority report**).

That's until worship of pagan deities were outlawed, and women were deliberately demonised and cast out of religious discourse (Mary Magdalen was one of the disciples of Christ according to Gnostic scriptures) by insecure bishops and incel theologians of the time, all in the aim of completely severing the ties between the old religions and the new.

Which is where the image of the evil witch comes from. It's fucked up. So next time you see women being depicted in a Disney film as a green-skinned hag stirring a caldron full of noxious looking potions and poisons, you'll know the origin of all that.

 

[UselessPieceOfShit]

Right now I'm reading The Fate of Rome. Just started, but it seems to be very interesting. It's a book about less known reasons for decline of Roman Empire, like epidemics and climate change. I'm especially interested in climate change, as its known that so-called The Dark Age was partially caused by Little Ice Age that lasted for most part of Early Medieval period. Another reason was high volcanic activity, wich basically caused a lot of ash to pollute the air, wich lowered insolation of entire Earth. That in turn made agriculture extremely difficult.

So yeah, so far it's absolutely teriffic. Another books I like about fall of Rome are books by Peter Heather. Check em out if you are interested in the topic.

 

[marjoram]

Gonna have to read that. I use to think the whole "muh patriarchy" schitck was just a bunch of whiney upper middle class slags failing to recognise their place, but when you look into the history behind witches you kind of get their point.

I read "The Immortality Key" by Brian C. Murakresku which is a detailed look into the origins of Christianity and the potential uses of a psychedelic sacrament that the first followers of Christ used to convert people from their pagan beliefs. I highly recommend it. Before monotheism took hold, women were the priestesses. They brewed the sacraments, the medicines. They were the experts in pharmacology, passing their knowledge down through the generations from mother to daughter, and were the ones that guided you through the various death ceremonies that existed and the Elysian Mysteries which this book is centered around. It's no coincidence either that most of the soothsayers and oracles in antiquity were women also (**minority report**).

That's until worship of pagan deities were outlawed, and women were deliberately demonised and cast out of religious discourse (Mary Magdalen was one of the disciples of Christ according to Gnostic scriptures) by insecure bishops and incel theologians of the time, all in the aim of completely severing the ties between the old religions and the new.

Which is where the image of the evil witch comes from. It's fucked up. So next time you see women being depicted in a Disney film as a green-skinned hag stirring a caldron full of noxious looking potions and poisons, you'll know the origin of all that.

Mary Magdalen may also have been Jesus' wife, in which case calling her a whore for centuries is probably not a good idea.

 

[Hugbox Kommissar]

Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. It's one of those books that you'll see recommended ad nauseam on sites like goodreads and reddit, but don't hold that against it. It's an enjoyable story about a group of thieves that run con games/heists on the rich in a fantasy city heavily based on Venice. The author did a good job of building the city up into its own character without resorting to infodumps. Plus I like any story where magic is enigmatic and terrifying.

 

[He's Ronald McDonald]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

 

[Key the Metal Shitposter]

History of the Byzantine State by George Ostrogorsky
Also restartibg Storm of Steel with the original translation

 

[Schauma mal]

The World of Yesterday: Memories of a European by Stefan Zweig

 

[Saucytomato]

I read this not too long ago, great story!!!!!


I’m currently reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, only three chapters in so not much of an opinion yet on the story.

Ahhhhhhh and how was that

 

[He Who Points And Laughs]

"Hunting Cyber Criminals" by Vinny Troia

 

[Isaac]

Mere Christianity
-C.S. Lewis

The Colour Out of Space
-H.P. Lovecraft

 

[Hazel Motes]

Making my way through Thomas Mann's Dr Faustus. It has took a while but I think it is starting to get quite good.

Also, finished Day of the Locust and Miss Lonleyhearts again for my MA dissertation. If you like Flannery O'Connor or Dickens, you will enjoy West. Or if you wanted a funny Dostoievski, this is your man.

 

[TurdFondler]

"Hunting Cyber Criminals" by Vinny Troia

View attachment 3008856

Is this up to date?

 

[Andrew Neiman]

Making my way through Thomas Mann's Dr Faustus. It has took a while but I think it is starting to get quite good.

How does it compare to "The Magic Mountain"?

 

[Hazel Motes]

How does it compare to "The Magic Mountain"?

MM has a better setting, feeling, but the characters and narrator of Faustus are far more interesting.

 

[Lucky Jim]

Just started reading Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino last night, a short novel about Marco Polo describing to Kublai Khan dozens of fantastic cities he has seen. The novel has no beginning or end. Polo and the emperor struggle to separate memory from the thing remembered in dreams or in Polo's travels; much in the book about human nature and the nature of knowledge and memory.

The experience of reading it — really I think I have found my ideal novel, this is really the ideal experience from witnessing art; in a sense it is like hearing bedtime stories as a child decades ago. He's at Joyce's level easily.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Thinking about reading some P.J. O’Rouke books as a form of tribute since he passed away earlier this month. His writing somewhat reminds me of Hunter S. Thompson, and I have no issue with that.

 

[burntwater]

Alone by Richard Byrd
It is his memoirs of being alone at a temporary weather station in Antarctica for six months through the Antarctic night in 1934.

 

[DJ Grelle]

Currently reading "Dancing in the glory of monsters" by Jason Stearns.
It's about the great african war and the encompassing chaos. It's decently written but done by a j*rnalist and I've already caught him on a few historical mistakes.
I'll still finish it but not really recommend it.

 

[Nate Higgers]

I’m finishing Blood Is A Rover. I actually found out about James Ellroy through KF and I feel nearly ashamed that I hadn’t heard of him or read his work until now. I really enjoyed American Tabloid. This one was alright.