MansionNET Forum

Did you recently finish a book? Give us your opinion!

In the process of reading something? How is it so far?

I've been reading a half a dozen books, but I'll single out Napoleon by Andrew Roberts. I loved his book on Churchill and when I finally realized that he also did a book on Napoleon, it didn't take long for it to appear on my e-reader. So far, its as good as I expected. Its not falling over to worship Napoleon, although he is presented in mostly positive light, but Roberts is not shying away from pointing out his failures and mistakes either. If you want a single book on Napoleon, this is it. I'll write a full review when I have finished it.

I've been working my way through "Natives" by Akala. He explores the idea of both historical and modern racism and classism through personal anecdotes and well researched historical data. It doesn't shy away from hard truths yet manages to remain fair and thought provoking without ever becoming self-righteous or performative. A good read for the current climate!

Currently im reading *Kalevala* by Elias lonnrot(cool name btw).Its a collection of Karelian poetry shared and recited amongst the Karelian and Ingrian natives.I chose the Eino friberg's translation as ive been told it isnt hard to understand and still saves some of the poetic elegance of the originals.

The journey up till now has been fine,ive understood most if not all of what ive read(partly due to hardelli translating extracts for me)and based solely off of how far ive read until now(runo 8),i can say its probably my favorite epic so far.The events that happen range from weird to funny to "what the fuck",which in contrast with the Iliad and the Oddyssey,are greatly appreciated...i mean you tell me,what's easier on the heart to read through??Achilles's best friend getting killed by hector,or how vainamoinen turns a little brat into a pond?ofcourse the latter!

*null hereby concludes his postive rant*

I recently read The North Water by Ian McGuire almost in one sitting.
Highly recommended — think of it as an R-rated Moby-Dick.