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books I’m reading

Mark Watkins
Author
Mark Watkins
Entrepreneur & author

Here are some books I am reading now, or have recently read. These lists are powered by Bookship, my social reading app. I also use my TBR app to manage my, well, TBR.

Neuromancer
reading

William Gibson

The book that defined the cyberpunk movement, inspiring everything from The Matrix to Cyberpunk 2077.The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.William Gibson revolutionised science fiction in his 1984 debut Neuromancer. The writer who gave us the matrix and coined the term ‘cyberspace’ produced a first novel that won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, and lit the fuse on the Cyberpunk movement. More than three decades later, Gibson’s text is as stylish as ever, his noir narrative still glitters like chrome in the shadows and his depictions of the rise and abuse of corporate power look more prescient every day. Part thriller, part warning, Neuromancer is a timeless classic of modern SF and one of the 20th century’s most potent and compelling visions of the future.Readers are hooked on Neuromancer:‘Wow. This is a wild ride. If you liked Philip K. Dick’s writing . . . if you liked Bladerunner, if you liked The Matrix . . . you will love Neuromancer’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐‘Like nothing I have read before . . . Gibson’s writing is poetry, not jargon . . . [it’s] slick and jagged like a serrated knife . . . Yeah I am a big, big fan . . . a unique, important and truly amazing reading experience’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐‘Basically a futuristic crime caper. The main character is Case, a burnt-out hacker, a cyberthief . . . Challenging? Yes. But it’s electrifying once you get it . . . Neuromancer is in me like a teabag, flavouring my life, and I can’t imagine what it would be like if I hadn’t pressed on’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐‘For me it was a sci fi thriller, two of my favourite genres rolled into one. I was grabbed immediately by the characters of Cole and Molly - especially Molly with her attitude, her mirror eyes and the blades under her fingernails . . . This is a very visual book and it was easy to start choosing who would play the roles in a movie’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories
reading

Gianni Rodari

From the father of modern Italian children’s literature, this is one of the great works about the imagination and how stories are made—featuring radiant illustrations from Matthew Forsythe and a refreshed translation from Jack Zipes.“Holds great value for the adults who teach kids and the adults who write for them.” —Mac Barnett, U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, for the New York Times★ “A must-have for educators and librarians looking to inject creativity into their classrooms.” —School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW! This handbook for writers of all ages and kinds is essential reading for teachers and creatives. It offers a playful, practical path to finding your own voice through the power of storytelling. Full of ideas, glosses on fairy tales, stories, and wide-ranging activities, this book changed how creative arts were taught in Italian schools. Gianni Rodari is not only revered as a children’s author, but also remembered for his visionary pedagogy, and it is these two fields he combines in this revolutionary essay collection. Translated into English by acclaimed scholar of folklore and children’s literature Jack Zipes, and with original art from illustrator Matthew Forsythe, this edition of The Grammar of Fantasy is one to live with and return to for its humor, intelligence, and remarkable understanding of children.
The First Strange Place: Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii
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Beth L. Bailey

As the forward base and staging area for all US military operations in the Pacific during World War II, Hawaii was the “first strange place” for close to a million soldiers, sailors, and marines on their way to the horrors of war. But Hawaii was also the first strange place on another kind of journey, toward the new American society that would begin to emerge in the postwar era. Unlike the rigid and static social order of prewar America, this was to be a highly mobile and volatile society of mixed racial and cultural influences, one above all in which women and minorities would increasingly demand and receive equal status. Drawing on documents, diaries, memoirs, and interviews, Beth Bailey and David Farber show how these unprecedented changes were tested and explored in the highly charged environment of wartime Hawaii.

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, Pearl, And Sir Orfeo
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J. R. R. Tolkien

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, PEARL, AND SIR ORFEO THREE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH POEMS, WITH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN

It’s Christmas at Camelot and King Arthur won’t begin to feast until he has witnessed a marvel of chivalry. A mysterious knight, green from head to toe, rides in and brings the court’s wait to an end with an implausible challenge to the Round Table: he will allow any of the knights to strike him once, with a battle-axe no less, on the condition that he is allowed to return the blow a year hence. Arthur’s brave favorite for the challenge is Sir Gawain…

Accompanying Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in this book are Sir Orfeo, a medieval version of the story of Orpheus and Euridice, a love so strong that it overcame death, and Pearl, the moving tale of a man in a graveyard mourning his baby daughter, lost like a pearl that slipped through his fingers. Worn out by grief, he falls asleep and dreams of meeting her in a bejewelled fantasy world.

Interpreted in a form designed to appeal to the general reader, J.R.R. Tolkien’s vivid translations of these classic poems represent the complete rhyme and alliterative schemes of the originals. This beautifully decorated text includes as a bonus the complete text of Tolkien’s acclaimed lecture on Sir Gawain.

From Here to Eternity
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James Jones

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time THE COMPLETE UNCENSORED EDITION • THE WORLD WAR II MASTERPIECE AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE READ • WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler. But when he refuses to join the company’s boxing team, he gets “the treatment” that may break him or kill him. First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he’s risking his career to have an affair with his commanding officer’s wife. Both Warden and Prewitt are bound by a common bond: The Army is their heart and blood—and, possibly, their death. This new edition features an Afterword by George Hendrick, a James Jones scholar, who discusses the novel’s origin and eventual censorship at the hands of its first publisher. Now the original language has at last been restored to the most important American novel to come out of World War II. From Here to Eternity re-creates the authentic soldier experience and captures, like nothing else, the honor and savagery of man. Foreword by William Styron “A work of genius.”—Saturday Review “Extraordinary and utterly irresistible . . . a compelling and compassionate story.”—Los Angeles Times “A blockbuster of a book . . . raw and brutal and angry.”—The New York Times “Ferocious . . . the most realistic and forceful novel I’ve read about life in the army.”—The New Yorker
Richard I (The English Monarchs Series)
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John Gillingham

With the emphasis firmly on Richard’s monarchy rather than on his personal life, Gillingham’s history aims to explain why the Lionheart’s reputation has fluctuated more than that of any other monarch. The study places Richard in Europe, the Mediterranean and Palestine and demonstrates that few rulers had more enemies or more influence. The paperback edition includes an updated bibliography.
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
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Karl Marlantes

The novel is set during the winter monsoon season of 1968-69 on and around a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the mountains of the remote north-western corner of Quang-Tri Province. The protagonist, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant, wants to command a company to further his civilian political ambitions. Two people stand in his way. The first is a well-loved, combat-weary lieutenant of his own age, who desperately wants out of the bush, but who does not want to leave his Marines with an inexperienced and overly ambitious officer. The second is an angry young leader of the company s radical blacks, who has all the political skill, savvy, and ambition of the protagonist. As the protagonist experiences the costs of combat, he sees the terrible results of his ambition and starts to change, learning that compassion and heart are more important than ambition and skill.
Pirates of New England: Ruthless Raiders and Rotten Renegades
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Gail Selinger

Tales of swashbuckling adventure, murder, treachery, and mayhem!

One would be mistaken to think of pirates as roaming only the Caribbean. Pirates as famous as William Kidd and Henry Every have at various times plundered, pillaged, and murdered their way up and down the New England seaboard, striking fear among local merchants and incurring the wrath of colonial authorities. Piracy historian Gail Selinger brings these tales of mayhem and villainy to life while also exploring why New England became such a breeding ground for high seas crime and how the view of piracy changed over time, from winking toleration to brutal crackdown. Included in this volume are:

Ned Low’s sadistic—at times cannibalistic—reign of terror on the high seas and his mysterious disappearance.

John Quelch’s defiant and unapologetic proclamations before being hanged in front of Boston’s crowds.

Henry Every’s daring attack on the Grand Mogul’s fleet, widely considered the largest maritime heist in history. Pirates of New England opens up new chapters in the history of piracy, ones that you’ll come back to again and again—Welcome aboard!

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
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Yukio Mishima

“The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea” tells of a band of savage thirteen-year-old boys who reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call ‘ojectivity’. When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship’s officer, he and his friends idealize the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic. They regard their disappointment in him as an act of betrayal on his part and react violently.
The Republic of Pirates
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Colin Woodard

An entrancing tale of piracy colored with gold, treachery and double-dealing (Portland Press Herald), Pulitzer Prize-finalist Colin Woodward’s The Republic of Pirates is the historical biography of the exploits of infamous Caribbean buccaneers. In the early eighteenth century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, “Black Sam” Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates — former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves — this “Flying Gang” established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote. They cut off trade routes, sacked slave ships, and severed Europe from its New World empires. For a brief, glorious period the Republic was a success as the pirates became heroes in the eyes of the people. Drawing on extensive research in the archives of Britain and the Americas, award-winning author Colin Woodard tells the dramatic untold story of the Pirate Republic that shook the very foundations of the British and Spanish Empires and fanned the democratic sentiments that would one day drive the American revolution.
Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100-1550 (Warfare in History, 24)
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Yuval Noah Harari

The author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind looks at covert operations and assassination plots in the medieval period, matching anything to be found in our own era.

Alongside the familiar pitched battles, regular sieges, and large-scale manoeuvres, medieval and early modern wars also involved assassination, abduction, treason and sabotage. These undercover operations were aimed chiefly against key individuals, mostly royalty or the leaders of the opposing army, and against key fortified places, including bridges, mills and dams. However, because of their clandestine nature, these deeds of “derring-do” have not been studied in any detail, a major gap which this book fills. It surveys a wide variety of special operations, from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. It then analyzes in greater depth six select and exciting operations: the betrayal of Antioch in 1098; the attempt to rescue King Baldwin II from the dungeon of Khartpert in 1123; the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat in 1192; the attempt to storm Calais in 1350; the “dirty war” waged by the rulers of France and Burgundy in the 1460s and 1470s; and the demolition of the flour mill of Auriol in 1536.

“A portrait of espionage, covert operations, assassination squads, and the deep penetration of seemingly invulnerable fortresses or security systems matching anything to be found in the war stories of the modern era.” MATTHEW BENNETT, SANDHURST.

Professor YUVAL NOAH HARARI teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is the author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.

Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America
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Eliot Pattison

In a novel rich in historical detail, acclaimed author Eliot Pattison reconsiders the founding of America and explores how disenfranchised people of any age and place struggle to find justice, how conflicting cultures can be reconciled through compassion and tolerance, and ultimately how the natural world has its own morality. Aboard a British convict ship bound for the New World, protagonist Duncan McCallum witnesses a series of murders and apparent suicides among his fellow Scottish prisoners. A strange trail of clues leads Duncan into the New World and eventually thrusts him into the bloody maw of the French and Indian War. Duncan is indentured to the British Lord Ramsey, whose estate in the uncharted New York woodlands is a Heart of Darkness where multiple warring factions are engaged in physical, psychological, and spiritual battle. Exploring a frontier world shrouded in danger and defying death in a wilderness populated by European settlers, Indian shamans, and mysterious scalping parties, Duncan, the exiled chief of his near-extinct Scottish clan, finds that sometimes justice cannot be reached unless the cultures and spirits of those involved are appeased.
Lord Valentine's Castle: Book One of the Majipoor Cycle
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Robert K. Silverberg

The Classic Bestselling Saga by Science Fiction Grand Master Robert Silverberg

Lord Valentine’s Castle

He is a man with no past— a wanderer without memory of his origins. He calls himself Valentine. As a member of a motley group of entertainers, he travels across the magical planet of Majipoor, always hoping he will meet someone who can give him back what he has lost.

And then, he begins to dream–and to receive messages in those dreams. Messages that tell him that he is far more than a common vagabond—he is a lord, a king turned out of his castle. Now his travels have a purpose—to return to his home, discover what enemy took his memory, and claim the destiny that awaits him…

Bunker Hill
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Nathaniel Philbrick

The bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea, Valiant Ambition, and In the Hurricane’s Eye tells the story of the Boston battle that ignited the American Revolution, in this “masterpiece of narrative and perspective.” (Boston Globe) Boston in 1775 is an island city occupied by British troops after a series of incendiary incidents by patriots who range from sober citizens to thuggish vigilantes. After the Boston Tea Party, British and American soldiers and Massachusetts residents have warily maneuvered around each other until April 19, when violence finally erupts at Lexington and Concord. In June, however, with the city cut off from supplies by a British blockade and Patriot militia poised in siege, skirmishes give way to outright war in the Battle of Bunker Hill. It would be the bloodiest battle of the Revolution to come, and the point of no return for the rebellious colonists. Philbrick brings a fresh perspective to every aspect of the story. He finds new characters, and new facets to familiar ones. The real work of choreographing rebellion falls to a thirty-three year old physician named Joseph Warren who emerges as the on-the-ground leader of the Patriot cause and is fated to die at Bunker Hill. Others in the cast include Paul Revere, Warren’s fiancé the poet Mercy Scollay, a newly recruited George Washington, the reluctant British combatant General Thomas Gage and his more bellicose successor William Howe, who leads the three charges at Bunker Hill and presides over the claustrophobic cauldron of a city under siege as both sides play a nervy game of brinkmanship for control. With passion and insight, Philbrick reconstructs the revolutionary landscape—geographic and ideological—in a mesmerizing narrative of the robust, messy, blisteringly real origins of America.
The Medieval Cookbook: Revised Edition
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Maggie Black

This book takes the reader on a gastronomic journey through the Middle Ages, offering not only a collection of medieval recipes, but a social history of the time. The eighty recipes, drawn from the earliest English cookbooks of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are presented in two formats: the original middle English version and one adapted and tested for the modern cook.

In a fascinating introduction, the author describes the range of available ingredients in medieval times and the meals that could be prepared from them—from simple daily snacks to celebratory feasts—as well as the preparation of the table, prescribed dining etiquette, and the various entertainments that accompanied elite banquets. Each chapter presents a series of recipes inspired by a historical event, a piece of literature, or a social occasion. Here we find descriptions of the grilled meats consumed by William the Conqueror’s invading forces; the pies and puddings enjoyed by the pilgrims in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales; and the more sumptuous fare served at royal feasts and Christmas celebrations. The author ends with a discussion of herbal recipes for various ailments.

Beautifully illustrated with lively dining scenes from illuminated manuscripts and tapestries, this book serves up a delightful literary and visual repast for anyone interested in the history of food and dining.

The Searcher: A Novel
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Tana French

Best Book of 2020 New York Times |NPR | New York Post

“This hushed suspense tale about thwarted dreams of escape may be her best one yet . . . Its own kind of masterpiece.” –Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post

“A new Tana French is always cause for celebration . . . Read it once for the plot; read it again for the beauty and subtlety of French’s writing.” –Sarah Lyall, The New York Times

Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.

“One of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox) weaves a masterful, atmospheric tale of suspense, asking how to tell right from wrong in a world where neither is simple, and what we stake on that decision.

Alif the Unseen
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G. Willow Wilson

“[A] Harry Potter-ish action-adventure romance” set during the Arab Spring, from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Ms. Marvel comic book series (The New York Times). In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker, who goes by Alif, shields his clients—dissidents, outlaws, revolutionaries, and other watched groups—from surveillance, and tries to stay out of trouble. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the state’s electronic security force, putting his clients and himself on the line. Then it turns out his lover’s new fiancé is the “Hand of God,” as they call the head of state security, and his henchmen come after Alif, driving him underground. When Alif discovers The Thousand and One Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen. This “tale of literary enchantment, political change, and religious mystery” was a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (Gregory Maguire). “Wilson has a deft hand with myth and with magic.” —Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods
The Blonde Identity
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Ally Carter

“A unique, delightful, hilarious, unputdownable romance… I’m wonderstruck by The Blonde Identity!” — Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis

The New York Times bestselling YA author of the beloved Gallagher Girls series bursts onto the adult scene with a fast-paced, hilarious road trip rom-com about a woman with amnesia who discovers she’s the identical twin sister of a rogue spy… and must team up with a rugged, grumpy operative to stay alive.

It’s the middle of the night in the middle of Paris and a woman just woke up with no memory.

She only knows three things for certain:

  1. She has a splitting headache.

  2. The hottest guy she has (probably) ever seen is standing over her, telling her to run.

And oh yeah…

  1. People keep trying to kill her.

She doesn’t know who. Or why. But when she sees footage of herself fighting off a dozen men there’s only one explanation: obviously. . . she’s a spy!

Except, according to Mr. Hot Guy, she’s not. She’s a spy’s identical twin sister.

Too bad the only person who knows she’s not the woman they’re looking for is this very grouchy, very sexy, very secret agent who (reluctantly) agrees to help her disappear. Which is easier said than done when a criminal organization wants you dead and every intelligence service in the world wants you caught.

Luckily, no one is looking for a pair of lovesick newlyweds on their honeymoon. And soon they’re lying their way across Europe—dodging bullets and faking kisses as they race to unravel a deadly conspiracy and clear her sister’s name.

But with every secret they uncover, the truth shifts, until she no longer knows who to trust: the twin she can’t remember or the mysterious man she can’t let herself forget…

“Spies! Amnesia! And banter that’ll make you chant “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” No one writes an action rom-com quite like Ally Carter.” – Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs

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