Last month in #WatWouterLas26

I read everyday, my streak is now 38.

With respect to my Top5 reading goals for this year:
1) > 15.000 pages
2) 20 books with over 500 pages
3) 6 books about megaliths
4) 5 prompts from the Leftist nonfiction challenge
5) 4 books about Scottish Clearances

1) at 7287 pages, so way ahead
2) read 5 sofar, so on track
3) is turning into 6 books about the Neolithic, but at 50% already
4) nope nothing as yet
5) read 1 so far, so on track

Started with the amazing literary cannibalism challenge, which wasn't in my top 5, but secretly is.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/e95eb2e7-fb9e-4aa3-8eb5-597d9903dc4e

I'll be in hospital and sick a lot this summer, so reading the big books might turn out to be quite difficult, but we'll see.

Use the hashtag #WatWouterLas26 or find me on Storygraph to see the list of books sofar and read reviews. https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/wouter_pieterse

#Bookstodon #Books #LezenIsLeuk

David Miles - The Tale of the Axe How the Neolithic Revolution Transformed Britain

"I tried to produce an approachable account for an interested General reader” writes David Miles in his afterword. For me, he has succeeded.

The book tells the story of the progress of agriculture from one of its starting points in the Levant (agriculture has arisen independently in a dozen places around the world) towards Britain. This Neolithic Revolution also brought about the megalithic monuments from Göbekli Tepe to Stonehenge.

It is based on the latest (in 2015) archeological insights and combines an approach over a long time and a wide geographical range into a synthesis that is amazingly easy to read. Sometimes Miles is downright funny, I literally lol’ed a couple of times while reading. A rare phenomenon while reading an archeology book.

I caught a few editorial oversights, e.g.:
• On p. 293 'were late arrivals in the evolving cycles of stone shifting and earth moving' is used twice in a paragraph.
• On p.322 Maeshowe & Newgrange are aligned on midwinter sunset, while on p. 371 Newgrange aligned on midwinter sunrise.
And I disagree with some wording in his epilogue. But that is nitpicking, I really enjoyed this book!

#WatWouterLas26 #LezenIsLeuk #Archeology #Neolithic #Reading #Bookstodon

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" (Clarke's famous 3rd law)

In the Culture novels Iain M Banks introduces technology so advanced that I would need his command of superlatives to try to describe it. As a consequence his Science Fiction is 'soft' with respect to the tech side.

What makes me coming back to his novels is 'cultures' - the interaction of different species with different levels of capability, different views of the universe and different goals. Individual 'humans' are used as the canvas for Bank's sketches and paintings of those interactions.

Add to that a very pleasant reading voice and you get an audiobook that I will probably relisten once more in the future.

#WatWouterLas26 #LezenIsLeuk #ScienceFiction #Culture #Audiobook #Reading #Bookstodon #Boekstadon

Dennis Bos - Bloed en Barricaden De Parijse Commune herdacht

Dennis Bos ken ik als een geweldige spreker. Hij barst van de feitenkennis, en kletst die feiten op een heel prettige manier aan elkaar. In dit boek past hij dezelfde stijl toe, maar word zijn kracht ook een zwakte.

Uitweiding volgt op uitweiding. In het begin amusant, na verloop van tijd vooral vermoeiend. 
Na de naamgever van het masochisme er al de haren bijgesleept te hebben, volgt na een boekbespreking 'de hyena's van de Commune' een paragraaf die ingaat op het leven van de gevlekte hyena. Hier had een strepende redacteur het boek beter gemaakt. 

Het boek begon me hierdoor tegen te staan. Tot ik me bedacht dat het ook door mijn manier van lezen kwam. Ik las het alsof ik een plot verwachtte, elke dag tientallen bladzijdes. Maar 'Bloed en Barricaden' is geen roman. Het is een lange monoloog, die je kunt opdelen in brokjes die je zelf goed te verteren vind.

Zo las ik het boek uit. Een uurtje of zo las ik wat Bos te zeggen heeft, om vervolgens het boek een paar dagen te laten liggen. Op deze manier werd het weer een heel vermakelijk en interessant verhaal vol met feitjes en anecdotes. Maar dat verhaal had best 100 pagina’s korter mogen zijn

#WatWouterLas26 #LezenIsLeuk #ParisCommune  #History #Reading #Bookstodon #Boekstadon

Finished 6 books in February and read 2000 pages.
Broke my streak of 54 days.

Towards my Top5 reading goals for this year:
1) > 15.000 pages 👍🏼 way ahead
2) 20 books with over 500 pages* 🫳🏼 finished one, need to finish 3 in March to be on track 😅
3) 6 books about megaliths** 👍🏼 finished 2 (both about #Hunebedden ), twice as much as needed to be on track.
4) 5 prompts from the Leftist nonfiction challenge*** 🫳🏼 not yet started
5) 4 books about Scottish Clearances** 👍🏼 finished in January

We'll see what March brings, my guess is a bit more archeology, and hopefully a start with the best challenge of the all: the literary cannibalism challenge!

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/e95eb2e7-fb9e-4aa3-8eb5-597d9903dc4e

#WatWouterLas26 #bookstodon #LezenIsLeuk #Reading #Bookstadon