Entertainment & Music Books

Hi,

I still prefer reading physical books and thought I challenge myself for the rest of the calendar year to read and increase my knowledge. I still strongly support the good old saying of "Knowledge is power".

- "City of darkness Kowloon walled city" by Ian Lambot and Greg Girard.
- "Wild Swans: Three daughters of China" by Jung Chang (I think this book is banned in China)
- "Mao: the unknown story" by Jung Chang (I think this book is banned in China also)
- "You don't have to be born brilliant" by John McGrath
- "You, inc" by John McGrath
- "Losing my virginity" by Sir Richard Branson

Happy to receive any other suggestions. I think I will also probably get back to reading fantasy books as well.

 

Read Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series. That'll keep you going for a while.

 

I'm currently reading "The Rosie Effect", by Graeme Simsion, a sequel to his international best seller, "The Rosie Project".

 

Not really a book but a movie. I highly recommend the movie "The Admiral: Roaring currents" about Admiral Yi Sun Shin who with 12 ships was able to put a halt to over 300 Japanese/ships invasion.

Korea's history could have been vastly different if it wasn't for him and he has a a better battle record than Lord Nelson himself. And for the gamers, the Age of Empire's turtle boat is often linked with him

Movie is available in JB Hi with subtitles.

Roaring Currents - AsianWiki

 

I've read wild swans. Sad that there is so much mystery and suffering in world history.

 

Hopefully, it's not going to make me loss hope in mankind. Ordered the book from fishpond and should be in my mailbox for me in a week or so.

 

It's interesting, you will like it. Just a bit sad what people had to go through.

 

I'm with geoffw - love my Kindle. I love the fact that I'm actually carting around an entire library in my handbag

 

I've read Wild Swans too. I think "a bit sad" is something of an understatement.

Another good story, nothing to do with China though, is Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. It's about the author's childhood, growing up in poverty.

And recently, a book I've seen highly recommended, but haven't read yet, is Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, by Joby Warrick.

Otherwise I mostly read fiction, but you can learn a lot of real history from historical fiction, both from the book itself, and using Google afterwards.

GP

 

If we're including novels based on real events, then I'll add:

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. A story set in the Belgian Congo that's essentially a metaphor for what happened to the country at that time. A little bit preachy later in the book, but excellent overall.

Dreamers Of The Day, by Mary Doria Russell. The carving up of the Middle East after WWI, featuring Winston Churchill, T E Lawrence (of Arabia), and Gertrude Bell. There's a bit of talking heads in this, but interesting none the less.

(Talking of Russell, if you're into SF, her books The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God are excellent too).

Most of James A Michener's historicals feature real events and some real people. Some of my favourites are The Source (Israel area), Chesapeake (US), Centennial (US), and The Covenant (South Africa).

Leon Uris's books are good too. The Exodus is a classic.

And for Europe in the 16th century, the series to read is The Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett. Difficult to get into, but an amazing story with the majority of characters being historical people and all major events being historical. She is known for her extensive and thorough research, and the pace and tension can be relentless. Then there's her other semi-relate series The House of Niccolo, set about 100 years earlier. Also very good.

GP

 

So many interesting books out there! I just think instead of watching the television, I should be enriching myself with something abit more meaningful. Have also been doing abit of Ubering as a way to talk to some interesting people.

 

In an old antique/book shop in Katoomba (there are many of these around the Blue Mountains!) I picked up an awesome, if not alarming book called 'End Game' by Anthony Barnosky and Elizabeth Hadley.

It was written late 2015 and tackles with honesty the reality that our ever-breeding species is horribly overpopulating this planet and consuming all of its resources.

It then asks the question: How long until the casual political jostling between countries over resources (land, food, oil, money, the usual...) move into actual wars, and how long until those escalate to horrible outcomes.

It even looks at better-case scenarios where humans are kind to each other, but the natural resource depletion persists, and ecological disaster still results.

 

Need to go for a drive there! I love Kinokuniya in the city, which has books for all around the world.

 

Theres so many cool books in the run down old shops in Katoomba. A bit chilly this time of year but worth checking out!

 

Somehow I have found myself reading several books at one time, with several more sitting on the shelf waiting.
Those with a bookmark include;

Buffett
The God Delusion
Becoming a Supple Leopard
Lord of Chaos
... and a few random text books

Don't think there's any common theme there.

 

Lol I've never read Dawkins but I really ought to.

I dont know why but I find him hilarious. I love watching him. When he is challenged; the way he responds, and the rational logic he applies to everything.

 

There are a lot of incredible minds about, have been for 100s of years. I would like to find some of those books written a few hundred years ago, big knowledge gap on my part.