Never read the book but the film was excellent
Itās on dvd, itās how I see most films
How old school I donāt even have a DVD player any more
Haha I live a very retro life I only discovered Netflix when lockdown started and also I inherited from someone a whole load of classic DVDās
Ah, see, now thatās cheating, Jesse
Just finished reading thisā¦
Iāve always been fascinated by the himalayas, the peaks and Everest, that fascination turned into a bit of an obsession after visiting Nepal and spending 3 weeks trekking to Everest base camp. These days Iāll read anything I can about the incredible people past and present who scale these humongous places.
This one is about Swede, Lars Olaf Gƶran Krupp who literally rode a bike to Nepal and part the way back, summited Everestās South side without oxygen or the help of any sherpas. This was also a few days before the 1996 disaster where 8 people died due to bad weather that lead to the book āinto thing airā (one of my all time favourites). An incredible story and an incredible feat.
Do you reckon George Mallory should get more credit?
Absolutely, he led the way for everyone else and heās often forgotten about when conversations about Everest are had and understandably itās all about Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Sadly weāll never ever find out if he and Andrew Irvine where the first men to summit Everest, because thereās simply no evidence, its a nice story though.
These days though itās all about Nimsdai Purja, what an incredible human being to have achieved what he has.
Football without Borders -Chris Allen.
I got to see this man speak at a union charity day few months ago.
Really nice person who brought 2 of this team players with him who spoke of the importance of football to them as refugees.
The book revolves around the author trying to engage people in a refugee centre in Liverpool involved in non league football.
After a few initiatives with limited success they set up their own grassroots park team and enter a local League.
Covers the ups and downs and different challenges of the season and introduces some of the individuals stories of how they got here.
Sometimes funny and sometimes sad itās probably a good way for people to get an understanding of some of the lives these lads have had. Also though shows another aspect of how good football can be and offer for everyone.
Lovely review @Stroller,this is whatās great about lower tier grass roots football like music it engages and transcends any prejudices and abilities so anyone can feel involved.
Itās where you are fortunate in the UK, because you have all these specialist leagues and clubs for no matter what gender, sexual orientation, religion, refugee status or disability, there is something there for you which Iāve not seen anywhere else in Europe.
Iām re-reading The Hobbit for the first time in 21 years and Iām really enjoying it.
Very clearly a childrens book, but nicely sets the tone for LOTR which Iāll be reading afterwards.
The Warriors
One of the only times Iād say the film was better (a lot better) than the book.
I genuinely had no idea this was a book lmao. If ever a narrative felt tailor made for a film itās The Warriors. Like the movie is amazing but the story screams screenplay not novel.
I canāt imagine itās a very long read? I do quite enjoy novels that play out over a short time span so I might give it a go some day.
Yeah, the book, without going into spoilers, is a lot more sexualised, describes a younger generation of gangs, set in clearly an earlier time setting than 1979 (the filmās release) and has a couple of very grim moments.
That almost sells the book! However, the language is hard to master (even a modern day New Yorker would struggle) and there isnāt as much fighting as in the film. The film was the epitome of cool. Even now, if you watch it as a young man, youāre like āwowā. The music, the imagery, the language- itās an assault to the senses.
Sol Yurick has gone on record to say The Warriors wasnāt his finest work, either.
Interesting write up, hasnāt entirely put me off but will certainly taper my expectations if I do decide to read it.
Completely agree with you about the film, absolute masterpiece.
Thanks to @Stroller for the generosity in sending me this. Canāt wait to get tucked in- I donāt often read sporting books but canāt wait for this one
Finished The Night Manager a few days ago. I didnāt watch the television show, but always wanted to, just didnt get round to it. So figured Iād do the sensible thing and get into the book instead, as the cliche about āthe book being betterā is nearly always true lol.
John le Carre is the boss of spy novels, and this was very good, but generally I prefer stuff set in the Cold War. But I think thays less to do with the respective quality of le Carreās novels set during and post Cold War, and more to do with the āfactā thats espionage was just generally much cooler and more interesting dueing the Cold War than afterwards lol.
I am also just generally very interested in the Cold War, itās an utterly fascinating period and thereās so much to read about if you wanna get into it. In the past year or so Iāve listened to two books about the Cold War and then also a biography of Stalin.
I really should stop giving Amazon my money but I just canāt bring myself to cancel Audible, having it means I consume so much more non fiction than I otherwise would, because I do find it difficult to sit down and read a lengthy, dense history/political text, whereas listening just feels like listening to a very high quality non fiction podcast, but one written by a quality writer and serious academic, rather than some rando in his bedroom.
What was it you liked about the Night Manager??
If you like this kind of stuff youāll LOVE The Traitor and The Spy by Ben McIntyre.
Itās absolutely fantastic. Non-fiction but it all reads like fiction, itās just so nuts. Itās about the most important Russian double agent during the Cold War who defected to MI6.
Yeah this was always a favourite subject of mine.
Len Deighton done some good stuff on this. I always like the espionage angle but a lot of newer stuff tends to be more muck and bullets. Always the intrigue for me and British writers have more feel for the subject IMO.