Off Topic Chazz's Book Club.

Raich Carter's Grandson is Raich Carter

 

Is this one of them time continuum thingy-majigs or...

 

I must have misread that. I'll have to check the line.
I noticed one typo in what, 150k words? Excellent writer.

 

Cheers. I think your correct. When I read it I was going to do a double take and read it again, but didn't. I'll read that chapter again. Tar.

 

P180..
'Carter was still a star.......and still good enough to play for England, in the view of this author's grandfather.'
Which I read as Carter saying he was still good enough...
My error..

 

In a strange twist of fate Raich Carter was Raich Carters grandad too.

 

you couldn't make it up...

 

Sometimes the world scares me.

 

Sometimes the world doesn't scare me...

 

Try expanding your imagination.



Sent from the microchip implanted in my third femur, from the planet Neptune in the year 2135.

 

City of Bohane by Kevin Barry, best book I've read during lockdown.

 

Having watched Narcos Mexico on Netflix, I decided to read Narcoland by Anabel Hernandez - maybe a real life version of The City of Bohane"?? I found Narcoland a very difficult read - essentially it is a stinging damnation of Mexico which tells us that Mexico is not really a country anymore but one big massive narcocartel. It is a land where everyone up to the President is involved in the narcotics trade. The politicians, the judiciary, the military, the civilian police forces, are all linked to the narcotics trade along with the more obvious drug lords. The book is a translation from Spanish and is the culmination of many years of investigative journalism by Ms. Hernandez. What makes it so difficult to follow is that too many characters are included, many of them being minor players. At a local level this is probably very interesting within Mexico but for an International audience it is wearisome. Coupled to this is the lack of a coherent timeline - a person is alive, then they are dead and five pages further along they are alive again as the author jitterbugs backwards and forwards through time. The other major gripe that I have with it is purely based on my own lack of familiarity with naming of people in hispanic cultures - a person can be named by their first and second names followed by their patronymic surname and then their matronymic surname. Next time the individual is only referred to by their first name and patronym, then by their nickname, then by a diminutive of their nickname, then by their patronym and matronym, then back to their full name!!. With so many persons mentioned, It becomes a really hard slog trying to work out who is who and who is associated with whom. I feel it would have been much better to provide a more compressed and orderly account for the international market..

As an aside, there must be much more seasons of Narcos Mexico in the offing (great) as the main focus of the book is on El Chapo, who is just a minor character in the first two seasons of the series.

 

Thought the guy was a bit of a cock so I bought and read his book Bikers Life by Henry Cole, he of shed and buried, worlds greatest motorcycle rides among other stuff fame.

Rich ( which is not a crime ) lucky and slightly less of a cock.

 

Reading a book by Tim Quelch called "Underdog" about footballing clubs that defied the odds.

A particularly fascinating chapter is devoted to Oxford United in the 80s, when they were taken over by Maxwell who after having a spat with the Council over issues regarding the club's ground, proposed a merger with Reading. When the merger failed he then palmed the club off on his son and the club plummeted through the divisions.

Seems scarily familiar..

 

Any Harry Potter experts on here? Daughter has some books and wants to know if they are worth anything. One of interest is a hardback copy of Order of the Phoenix that has 2 chapters 21 and 22.

Any good sites for info, looked at google and got information overload.

 

Current reads.
Alastair Cook The Autobiography
And Jordan Peterson 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote To Chaos
Enjoying both.

 

I’m pretty sure it should have more chapters than that...and really they should be numbered 1 and 2

Hope that helps

EDIT - Try contacting AbeBooks. They were helpful when I was looking to replace something I’d lost...well when I say helpful I mean they had one at a mind boggling price. So I just kept looking and found it in the loft...which was cheaper.

 

Reading Shattered Sword, The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
By: Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully
Very good book, and very long and thorough.The book is pretty unique in that it tells the story from the Japanese side.
It also corrects many of the misconceptions and previous mistakes written about the battle.
(I am retired )

 

Just finished reading 'Night' by Elie Wiesel - a fifteen year old child's close up view of the Holocaust, not one for the faint of heart.