What are you reading right now and how is it? I'm reading

War and Peace

Ran out of steam after reading 900 pages in like a week
Barely touched it in days

>>1466281
This is true. Read his "Iron Kingdom" a while back, and got through the first little bit of "The Sleepwalkers" at the library. It's on my list. As for me:

Felipe Fernández-Armesto, "Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food" (2002)

The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

It's quite interesting, gives some insight into the courtly life and how one person perceives it.

The sudden skipping is a bit frustrating though, but that is to be expected.

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Pretty good overview.

>>1466333

What part are you at?

It hits a lull toward the mid-point. There is that like 100 page hunting scene.

From Borodino on is pretty fast paced.

I've read it 2.2ish times. Might finish it for the third.

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Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Currently at Philip I, he just killed Gordian III. Seems like a dick.

320 years till Justintinian!

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Rereading, needs to be read at least once before you can call yourself a /his/torian

>>1466561
Balashev's meeting with Napoleon delivering Alexander's message about retreating back behind the Neman

>>1466591
Anon who posted >>1466352, but my sidebook right now is a history of modern Europe (A.D. 1500 onward) published in 1916, written by Carlton J. H. Hayes. They talk about him at all in your book, or did his role over there come too late to figure much in the actual period of the Spanish Civil War?

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Currently it's pic related (among others, this is my main book though).

Volume 3 of a 4 volume set, that totals ~2000 pages of commentary on a book that is ~150 pages. Shit's great if you have a boner for Wittgenstein though.

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It's a hell of a steep learning curve, but there's a glossary in the back of my edition, which helps with the untranslatable Hindu holy terms. Not the best read ever, but rather interesting.

>>1466591
Just looked up Thomas on wikipedia and he sits in the House of Lords
That's how you know a historian is based
Also, have you read Anthony Beevor's Spanish civil war book? If so, how do these two compare?

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Just started it.

Got me Apache Wars by Paul Andrew Hunton, 1491 by Charles C. Mann and Kiowa, Apache and Comanche Military Societies by Meadows.

Also started War and Peace and Doctor Zhivago

Xenophon's Cyropaedia. It was grossly overrated.

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>>1466281
>tfw I have a signed edition of this book
>only read the first 2 chapters because of the sluggish way it is written.

>>1466627
Not from what I can remember and have seen - as you mentioned the role comes too late, Civil War books largely focus solely on the events of 1936-139 the immediate aftmath, and occasionally Franco's dealings with Hitler and the allies in WWII. Not my field, but i feel any good book specifically on Francoist Spain after the war would at least mention Hayes.

>>1466662
I definitely prefer Thomas' book, going further in detail on the political machinations happening behind the scenes before and after the war, Thomas' book does have its limitations though. Written in the 1950s some dated histiography, largely related to accounts of massacres being revealed as Francoist propaganda following the end of Franco's reign. Beevor has the advantage of a more modern book working with modern sources (though he's made revisions to his own book). Some also claim Thomas was biased towards certain elements of the Nationalists, and Beevor to the Republican cause, and to be fair Beevor does focus somewhat more on the Republican, and Thomas had the older sources I mentioned, both are great companion pieces though.

Coincidentally my favourite author is also in the House of Lords, Robert Skidelsky; author and economist. He's written brilliant biographies on Keynes, and his biography on Oswald Mosley is a great read too, as is anything he's produced.

>>1466584
Isn't it considered outdated? I'd like to read it but I've heard that some things don't hold up anymore. Can anyone confirm/disconfirm

>>1466858
It is quite outdated but is a great work of literature in itself. As a narrative of ancient rome it's still worth reading

>>1466857
Good reply, thanks. Will likely read both in the end

>>1466831
> He wasn't instantly hooked by the description of the Serbian regicide

How?

>>1466858

Not on most of the key facts. The exposition and prose is top notch. I've listened to the History of Rome and read SPQR, and notice no differences, so they must be minor.

No other source that I know of covers as much ground in one place.

Gibbon also acknowledges that the contemporary historians he relies on may be biased, he just doesn't dwell on comparing competing hypotheses the way a modern writer would. He notes some lack of faith, and than carries on. He has 1400 years to cover.

Some of his own bias creeps in, but since it's ye olden days bias, it's actually a lot easier to catch than modern texts. Most, if not all historians tend to write critiques of their current eras into their histories.

Only hard part is figuring out where the fuck provinces are from the locations he gives. You have to figure out the boundaries of Illyria based on the boundaries of the Balkans in 1776.

I'm reading the book of Chuang Tzu, and it's awesome.

Also reading the Bible, but I had to take a break, because Numbers is just too fucking boring.

Also reading the Odyssey.