So since it seems this is a new concept here on TWHL, and inspired by Striker’s last journal entry, I suggest we discuss our various reads in this very thread. What are you currently reading? What is your favourite book, the one that had the biggest impact on you? Do you also listen to audiobooks, and do you also fall asleep when you do?
Much like someone who asks a question just to be asked the same question in return and be given the opportunity to talk for hours, I will commence this fantastic journey with my last reads.
Well not really reads because I’m very much into audiobooks now. When it comes to books that tell a story, such as historical books, I find them to be a perfect fit. I’m using the Audiobooks app.
The Tudors - A fascinating book about how the offspring of an obscure Welshman and a widowed French queen managed to seize the throne of England in the 15th century. The book casts a new light on Henry the VIII and his reformation, depicting him as an impulsive and selfish tyran, while it partly rehabilitates among other things the Catholic Church of that era in England, which while being far from perfect does not fit the exagerated evilish descriptions taught today by mainstream or English-patriotic history. Certlainly changed my mind on the subject.
Say Nothing - Another fascinating but depressing book about the Irish troubles, read with a thick Irish accent. It’s hard to believe everything that’s in it since it resembles so much an action movie, albeit with a somewhat bad ending. The book focuses on the murder and disappearance of a mother-of-ten by the provisional IRA, as well as many other cold-blooded killings that were committed during that time, and on how their perpetrators are still escaping justice to this day. The book discusses the still ongoing tension between Republicans and Unionists in Northern Ireland and the infamous peace walls, the violence and paranoia that reigned in that time and the crimes that resulted from it such as the Corporal killings and Bloody Sunday, the use of informants by the British army and the role of paramilitary organisations in the peace process and finally, the price of peace.
The Triple Agent - Yet another depressing book about an Al-Qaida triple agent who successfully managed to infiltrate the CIA and blow himself up at one of their secret bases, killing 9 people (plus himself).
As for my current "read", I’m listening to a book about dirigeables, or "zeppelins", and to the reader’s amusing German accent. I hope this book will end well for a change!
