What are you reading now?

[ledburner]

This may accompany you mycoligical museings
BBC Sounds: Fungi: the new frontier, Tim Hayward

[RIP]

The instructions on how to patch my Exped Hyperlite mat. Blinkin' great 4cm slice in it from an unseen twig on WRT.

Also The Trespasser's Companion (see earlier). Some good quotes, today's: "Another of the main arguments against greater public access to nature is that we cannot be trusted not to harm the delicate ecology of the countryside. The cry comes up from the land lobby. "You'll crush the ground-nesting birds", and with it a silent exhortation to wilfully ignore the scientific evidence... birds in Europe are on a steep decline...but quelle surprise the actual cause of decline is not right-to-roamers wantonly stomping on egss but, of course, the devastating dominance of industrial agriculture and other land usage.... the system of exclusive dominion given to landowners is responsible for the decimation of the environment on a much larger scale than anything the rambler or wildswimmer could possibly enact"....."it's not the rambler devastating our moorlands or the wildswimmer pouring raw sewage into our rivers or the protestor cutting down our ancient forests"...

[Dave Barter]

I’m now reading

Pedals, Politics and People by Hubert Opperman

I’ve been after this book for years. Found it on an obscure Australian book site and it turned up signed by Oppy himself. If you’ve read The Year you might know who I am on about.

[godivatrailrider]

The Wild Places - Robert Macfarlane

[jay91]

Although I'm not reading it presently, I would certainly recommend, 'I bought a mountain' by Thomas Fairbank. After WWII a Canadian man buys a hill farm in north Wales. It's a wonderful story that paints a vivid picture of life in the hills during the 40's and 50's. The farm still stands today. I'm sure some of you will have ridden past it.

Just finished reading this . It's a great book

[ergaster]

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Always relaxes me.

[Verena]

Rape of the Fair Country, by Alexander Cordell.

It's about life in the early days of the iron foundries just up the road here in Blaenavon and Natyglo.

Finding it a very good read so far. I bet some of you on here know it....

[godivatrailrider]

East of Eden - John Steinbeck … such a great writer.

[RIP]

The news.

I see Geoff Fuller, potter and landlord extraordinaire, has passed away. Probably only means something to Stu and Reg. Another colourful character lost to us.

[psling]

Rape of the Fair Country, by Alexander Cordell.

It's about life in the early days of the iron foundries just up the road here in Blaenavon and Natyglo.

Finding it a very good read so far. I bet some of you on here know it....

I can vaguely remember studying that one at school V along with Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood and another book that escapes me at the moment (it was a very long time ago now)

Edit: got it - Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

[Bearbonesnorm]

I'm just about to sit down with the latest copy of 'Race Engine Technology' and read a very indepth article about the World's fastest steam powered motorbike - really.

[Verena]

Rape of the Fair Country, by Alexander Cordell.

It's about life in the early days of the iron foundries just up the road here in Blaenavon and Natyglo.

Finding it a very good read so far. I bet some of you on here know it....

I can vaguely remember studying that one at school V along with Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood and another book that escapes me at the moment (it was a very long time ago now)

Edit: got it - Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

I just love the way it is written, the Welsh way of speaking is really coming through. Just been reading the sex education to Iestyn from his dad, all about planting seeds in the soil and all that, and then the vegetable fight on the canal barges with the Irish in the way to the annual outing to Newport

[thenorthwind]

I think quite a few books have come and gone since I last posted on this thread, but a few I've read recently will probably appeal to some on here.

Wild Voices by Mike Cawthorne was a Christmas present from my mum and is based around a series of separate trips, walking or canoeing, in various remote bits of Scotland described by some of the classics of Highland literature. I found the writing a little bit self-indulgent at times, but it was interesting all the same. Proper "adventuring" and nicely written. It inspired me to get round to reading some of the books it mentions; hence I've got a copy of Isolation Shepherd on the way.

By coincidence (or perhaps not) my mum brought me another present, a copy of Alastair Maclean's Night Falls on Ardnamurchan, when she visited a couple of weeks ago, which is also one of the books featured in the above. I've fairly devoured that and really enjoyed it.

Before that, I read The Last Wilderness: A Journey Into Silence by Neil Ansell. More Highland walking and in the Rough Bounds, with a strong nature element. Very well written, and quite touching where it mentions the author's declining health and, in particular, hearing (hence the subtitle). There are a few tangential stories of adventures all over the world, and I expect he's got plenty more to tell.

[psling]

... my mum brought me another present, a copy of Alastair Maclean's Night Falls on Ardnamurchan, when she visited a couple of weeks ago, which is also one of the books featured in the above. I've fairly devoured that and really enjoyed it.

Alasdair, not Alastair Both authors but totally different people and totally different styles of writing

[thenorthwind]

... my mum brought me another present, a copy of Alastair Maclean's Night Falls on Ardnamurchan, when she visited a couple of weeks ago, which is also one of the books featured in the above. I've fairly devoured that and really enjoyed it.

Alasdair, not Alastair Both authors but totally different people and totally different styles of writing

I did check whether it was a D or a T while I was typing that, so either it was autocorrected, or there was an error between brain and fingers (not unlikely).

[faustus]

Ben Rawlence The Treeline, well written and researched and stark
Gary Snyder's The Practice of the Wild, classic of the genre, still very relevant
Jack Thurston Lost Lanes West, finally got round to getting a copy, superb as always
Philip Pullman The Imagination Chamber so nice to have vignettes back in that world
Rob Cowen/Nick Hayes (illustr) The Heeding good lockdown poetry

[godivatrailrider]

Not sure if anyone has read any of Bettina Selby's cycling adventures.
I've read Riding North One Summer and am currently on Fragile Islands
https://www.cyclinguk.org/biography/bettina-selby
TBH I find her much more interesting than Dervla Murphy

She retired to Ludlow some years ago and is still here, cycling. She's quite a character.

[thenorthwind]

Not sure if anyone has read any of Bettina Selby's cycling adventures.

I haven't, but I'll add her to the list, thanks.

Meanwhile, since last posting, I've read Isolation Shepherd which was every bit as good as I expected.

Also, started...
Postcapitalism: A guide to our future by Paul Mason. Less fun Some quite heavy economics theory, but now I've got into it, it's quite interesting. I'll let you all know how we're supposed to be doing it when I get to that bit.
The Geography of Lakeland by J. C. Barringer. Hardcore* geology. I'm spending enough time there, so I thought I'd learn a bit.
Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way by Lars Mytting. I think I've seen this book and dismissed it as a hipster trap. But an old friend randomly sent me a copy having read it and decided I would like it. And actually, it's a nice read, and I've learnt genuinely useful stuff.

*it's all hardcore relatively, I suppose

[Dave Barter]

I've just finished "End to End" by Paul Jones which is a great narrative of the LEJOG cycling record. I've got nearly every book on the subject and this is the best to date

[Bearlegged]

*it's all hardcore relatively, I suppose

You should probably do some Mohr research before making such sweeping statements.

[RIP]

economics....... I'll let you all know how we're supposed to be doing

ooh, ooh, I know the answer to this one Sir!

Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way...... actually, it's a nice read

I nice eclectic and varied selection there 'Wind, good stuff. I reckon 'Chopping' might be a bit like 'Noble Art Of Tramping' etc, you just sort of let it wash over you like the gentle lapping waves of a warm sea on a remote beach somewhere. Lovely.

[thenorthwind]

*it's all hardcore relatively, I suppose

You should probably do some Mohr research before making such sweeping statements.

Just for the shear hell of it, yes.

[thenorthwind]

economics....... I'll let you all know how we're supposed to be doing

ooh, ooh, I know the answer to this one Sir!

Be my guest, Reg...

[RIP]

economics....... I'll let you all know how we're supposed to be doing

ooh, ooh, I know the answer to this one Sir!

Be my guest, Reg...

"We're fucked".

Got a bike though and I'm a 'Boner so I'm happy .

[faustus]

Got a bike though and I'm a 'Boner so I'm happy .

Hmm, a little adjustment to 'Got a bike and a 'Boner and i'm happy' - makes for a perfect BB sticker/patch?