The GOT Book Club

[Bilko]

Just finished " last stop Auschwitz ", the only account written by a prisoner while in the camp.
As you'd expect a bit tough in places, but a rare insight into conditions etc.

 

[COYBL25]

Just finished " last stop Auschwitz ", the only account written by a prisoner while in the camp.
As you'd expect a bit tough in places, but a rare insight into conditions etc.

I read the reviews for this, mostly outstanding.

Do you think it`s got the makings of a film ?

 

[Bilko]

I read the reviews for this, mostly outstanding.

Do you think it`s got the makings of a film ?

It probably does,he was a Dutch Dr, quite harrowing in parts particular towards the final few months Perhaps the best account of how the camp was run with regards day to day, a very active black market and relationships that sprung up between all the different groups,prisoners ,kapos,guards etc.

 

[COYBL25]

It probably does,he was a Dutch Dr, quite harrowing in parts particular towards the final few months Perhaps the best account of how the camp was run with regards day to day, a very active black market and relationships that sprung up between all the different groups,prisoners ,kapos,guards etc.

On my list

 

[summerisle]

Just finished " last stop Auschwitz ", the only account written by a prisoner while in the camp.
As you'd expect a bit tough in places, but a rare insight into conditions etc.

I've got this, grim is not the word. A Hungarian inmate forced to assist Mengele.

 

[davek]

Currently reading this one:

Ex Teardrops and Wild Swans, Paul Simpson.

Anyone who read the Julian Cope or Will Sergeant books will be familiar with the period and scene...and many of the stories in it.

Great for anyone going up and going to see all the Liverpool bands of the late 70s and 80s.

 

[Daytripper]

Sleep of Reason , The James Bulger Case

Well written and at times very grim , there’s pretty detailed information about the police station interviews that were conducted with the two boys and admittedly I was taken aback by how sly they were in defiance. Some of the recordings have been used in documentaries but there’s more here and it’s not easy reading.

The murder happened pretty close to where I live and was around the same age of the two who done it. I remember the crowd gathering outside the court but never saw the vans being attacked .

The author tries to sympathise with all involved particularly during the trial. I can’t share that sentiment knowing what they did. Two very strange boys to say the least.

 

[Dundee mifflin]

Currently reading this one:

Ex Teardrops and Wild Swans, Paul Simpson.

Anyone who read the Julian Cope or Will Sergeant books will be familiar with the period and scene...and many of the stories in it.

Great for anyone going up and going to see all the Liverpool bands of the late 70s and 80s.

Just ordered it off Amazon

 

[davek]

Just ordered it off Amazon

Its a good read mate.

As I said above, if you've read the other biographies from the early 80s Liverpool scene out there you're familiar with the territory covered. The novelty of this one is that its from a feller who never really enjoyed the roaring success of those in the Teardrops or Bunnymen and so there's a different dynamic to it.

 

[jaspercabbage]

It probably does,he was a Dutch Dr, quite harrowing in parts particular towards the final few months Perhaps the best account of how the camp was run with regards day to day, a very active black market and relationships that sprung up between all the different groups,prisoners ,kapos,guards etc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/If-This-Woman-Ravensbruck-Concentration/dp/034912003X
Similar to this book about Ravensbruck, the all female concentration camp. Brilliant book with several surviving inmates adding their experiences to the history of the camp.

 

[Bilko]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/If-This-Woman-Ravensbruck-Concentration/dp/034912003X
Similar to this book about Ravensbruck, the all female concentration camp. Brilliant book with several surviving inmates adding their experiences to the history of the camp.

I learn so much from all these books,as sad and frightening that they are . Will look into this one also, have just picked up " the choice " but will wait a while and read a couple of other books in-between as I do find them a tough read.

 

[LostLegend]

Just finished Jon Krakauer's 'Into The Wild'

It's the true story of Chris McCandless, a young American lad from a well-to-do upper middle class family who abandoned his life, possessions and gave all his savings to charity and set out to live his life as a Tolstoyan-esque drifter, thumbing rides from state to state before eventually heading off grid 'into the wild' to live off the land in Alaska, where he ultimately starved to death.

Really enjoyed this, as tragic as it is.

I'm quite torn over Chris McCandless. On one hand I kind of admire what he was trying to do, to have that self awareness of the privilege he was born into and to reject that to live a life off the grid, takes a lot of guts.

He was also very pig-headed and cocksure of himself, which is probably what ultimately led to his death. Had he just listened to others and spent a bit more time properly preparing, maybe he would have made it. He managed to survive several months hunting and foraging for his own food, so he was clearly somewhat skilled, but his bloody minded obsession with doing things his way meant he was under prepared to deal with serious problems and had no real escape plan.

You have to really feel for his family as well, I don't think they deserved for him to cut them out of his life the way he did.
Such is the arrogance of youth I suppose.

 

[COYBL25]

Just finished Jon Krakauer's 'Into The Wild'

It's the true story of Chris McCandless, a young American lad from a well-to-do upper middle class family who abandoned his life, possessions and gave all his savings to charity and set out to live his life as a Tolstoyan-esque drifter, thumbing rides from state to state before eventually heading off grid 'into the wild' to live off the land in Alaska, where he ultimately starved to death.

Really enjoyed this, as tragic as it is.

I'm quite torn over Chris McCandless. On one hand I kind of admire what he was trying to do, to have that self awareness of the privilege he was born into and to reject that to live a life off the grid, takes a lot of guts.

He was also very pig-headed and cocksure of himself, which is probably what ultimately led to his death. Had he just listened to others and spent a bit more time properly preparing, maybe he would have made it. He managed to survive several months hunting and foraging for his own food, so he was clearly somewhat skilled, but his bloody minded obsession with doing things his way meant he was under prepared to deal with serious problems and had no real escape plan.

You have to really feel for his family as well, I don't think they deserved for him to cut them out of his life the way he did.
Such is the arrogance of youth I suppose.

Having read this I fully agree with what you say there.

When I finished, I found that I was angry with him, as his death was all so avoidable.

They made a film of it, which pretty much follows the book.

I think in the film his death was eventually explained as him taking a chance on eating mushrooms he wasn`t sure of, due to the fact that he was starving and the mushrooms poisoned him, to the point where he was that weak, he was unable to move out of the abandoned van he was living out of and starved to death.

 

[LostLegend]

Having read this I fully agree with what you say there.

When I finished, I found that I was angry with him, as his death was all so avoidable.

They made a film of it, which pretty much follows the book.

I think in the film his death was eventually explained as him taking a chance on eating mushrooms he wasn`t sure of, due to the fact that he was starving and the mushrooms poisoned him, to the point where he was that weak, he was unable to move out of the abandoned van he was living out of and starved to death.

Yeah, I saw the film a few years ago, Sean Penn directed I think.

 

[Mo' Better Blues]

Having read this I fully agree with what you say there.

When I finished, I found that I was angry with him, as his death was all so avoidable.

They made a film of it, which pretty much follows the book.

I think in the film his death was eventually explained as him taking a chance on eating mushrooms he wasn`t sure of, due to the fact that he was starving and the mushrooms poisoned him, to the point where he was that weak, he was unable to move out of the abandoned van he was living out of and starved to death.

I think it was incorrectly identified seeds, was there some suggestion in the book he injured his ankle and couldn’t forage very far?

His sister Carine wrote a book called ‘The Wild Truth’ which I keep meaning to read, think it explains more about formative years and unhappy childhood/dysfunctional family life.