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What book are you reading at the moment ?

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Cabra Hoop View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cabra Hoop Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 10:49am
After watching the documentary on Jack Charlton I reread Days of Heaven and Jiving at the Crossroads. Days of Heaven tries to cover too much subject matter but is a good read nonetheless and nostalgic. Whatever your opinion of Waters, Jiving is an excellent book and captured the dysfunction and cute hoorness at the heart of Ireland back then which predictably has become increasingly more pronounced in the years since the book was written. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MC Hammered Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 10:50am

Cheers for the recommendation, I’ll put that on the list 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nvidic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 11:05am
Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:


One problem with reading on the Kindle is that I can never remember the titles of the books I’m reading. Without being able to see the cover regularly, I forget what they are called. 

Currently reading “When Friday Comes”. It’s quite an informative and interesting account of football in the Middle East. The Author tours through most of the region (Qatar, Yemen, Palestine, Iran, Lebanon etc) and tries to take in a big game. 
Enjoyable so far.

Nice one, that's exactly my type of book, will download that.

Read the 9 lives of Pakistan there, written by an Irishman who worked as a foreign corresodnent there before being deported. Enjoyed it, very accessible history of the country and its current state.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pre Madonna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 11:20am
Originally posted by Cabra Hoop Cabra Hoop wrote:

After watching the documentary on Jack Charlton I reread Days of Heaven and Jiving at the Crossroads. Days of Heaven tries to cover too much subject matter but is a good read nonetheless and nostalgic. Whatever your opinion of Waters, Jiving is an excellent book and captured the dysfunction and cute hoorness at the heart of Ireland back then which predictably has become increasingly more pronounced in the years since the book was written. 
I read 'Days of Heaven' recently too and for similar reasons. He is a good writer and an interesting fella, but he seems to lose his purpose a bit and he loves an old name-drop.
I am not sure I could read Waters now, even though I know he can be a good writer.

That book sounds interesting, Vidic.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MC Hammered Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 11:36am
“Among the Thugs” - Bill Buford

An American journalist living in England in the 70’s becomes fascinated with the football hooligan scene. He is an observer rather than a participant in the mayhem but he does put himself in the centre of some wild encounters. Apart from the legitimate psychos, the interesting aspect is how normal people can get whipped up into a frenzy in a crowd and do mad things. I found it relatable thinking back to lads trips away in my younger days where a combination of giddiness and machismo mixed with alcohol created silly and sometimes dangerous situations - although violence wasn’t really an aspect that occurred in my case thankfully. 

Some of the descriptions of the people involved are gas. You’ll recognise some similar characters from our own Ireland games. There drunkards for whom the football is merely an occasion to get acceptably locked in public. However, there are some scary people featured also. Sadists who are given cover by the mass disturbances to carry out some horrible acts. 

Overall it’s a great read and I would recommend it. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nvidic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 11:39am
Originally posted by pre Madonna pre Madonna wrote:

Originally posted by Cabra Hoop Cabra Hoop wrote:

After watching the documentary on Jack Charlton I reread Days of Heaven and Jiving at the Crossroads. Days of Heaven tries to cover too much subject matter but is a good read nonetheless and nostalgic. Whatever your opinion of Waters, Jiving is an excellent book and captured the dysfunction and cute hoorness at the heart of Ireland back then which predictably has become increasingly more pronounced in the years since the book was written. 
I read 'Days of Heaven' recently too and for similar reasons. He is a good writer and an interesting fella, but he seems to lose his purpose a bit and he loves an old name-drop.
I am not sure I could read Waters now, even though I know he can be a good writer.

That book sounds interesting, Vidic.

I'd certainly recommend it it, always been interested by the country. I was worried it would be too academic in nature but it was far from it. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pre Madonna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 11:48am
Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:

“Among the Thugs” - Bill Buford

An American journalist living in England in the 70’s becomes fascinated with the football hooligan scene. He is an observer rather than a participant in the mayhem but he does put himself in the centre of some wild encounters. Apart from the legitimate psychos, the interesting aspect is how normal people can get whipped up into a frenzy in a crowd and do mad things. I found it relatable thinking back to lads trips away in my younger days where a combination of giddiness and machismo mixed with alcohol created silly and sometimes dangerous situations - although violence wasn’t really an aspect that occurred in my case thankfully. 

Some of the descriptions of the people involved are gas. You’ll recognise some similar characters from our own Ireland games. There drunkards for whom the football is merely an occasion to get acceptably locked in public. However, there are some scary people featured also. Sadists who are given cover by the mass disturbances to carry out some horrible acts. 

Overall it’s a great read and I would recommend it. 
The best book on hooliganism by a country mile. It is one I need to revisit. He tackles the subject, if you pardon the phrase, without an agenda and that's what sets it apart.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote thebronze14 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 7:21pm
Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:

“Among the Thugs” - Bill Buford

An American journalist living in England in the 70’s becomes fascinated with the football hooligan scene. He is an observer rather than a participant in the mayhem but he does put himself in the centre of some wild encounters. Apart from the legitimate psychos, the interesting aspect is how normal people can get whipped up into a frenzy in a crowd and do mad things. I found it relatable thinking back to lads trips away in my younger days where a combination of giddiness and machismo mixed with alcohol created silly and sometimes dangerous situations - although violence wasn’t really an aspect that occurred in my case thankfully. 

Some of the descriptions of the people involved are gas. You’ll recognise some similar characters from our own Ireland games. There drunkards for whom the football is merely an occasion to get acceptably locked in public. However, there are some scary people featured also. Sadists who are given cover by the mass disturbances to carry out some horrible acts. 

Overall it’s a great read and I would recommend it. 

Will give that a go...Just started Dead Man's Trousers by Irvine Welsh. Not expecting it to be as good as Trainspotting or Skag Boys but hoping it's better than Porno which I found very underwhelming
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MC Hammered Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 8:58pm

Irving Welsh hasn’t had a good book in a long time unfortunately. 
Trainspotting, The Acid House and The Maribou Stork Nightmares are superb. After that, he has a couple of passable efforts (Ecstacy and Porno) but the rest are rehashed sh*te. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irishmufc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 8:59pm
Originally posted by thebronze14 thebronze14 wrote:

Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:

“Among the Thugs” - Bill Buford

An American journalist living in England in the 70’s becomes fascinated with the football hooligan scene. He is an observer rather than a participant in the mayhem but he does put himself in the centre of some wild encounters. Apart from the legitimate psychos, the interesting aspect is how normal people can get whipped up into a frenzy in a crowd and do mad things. I found it relatable thinking back to lads trips away in my younger days where a combination of giddiness and machismo mixed with alcohol created silly and sometimes dangerous situations - although violence wasn’t really an aspect that occurred in my case thankfully. 

Some of the descriptions of the people involved are gas. You’ll recognise some similar characters from our own Ireland games. There drunkards for whom the football is merely an occasion to get acceptably locked in public. However, there are some scary people featured also. Sadists who are given cover by the mass disturbances to carry out some horrible acts. 

Overall it’s a great read and I would recommend it. 

Will give that a go...Just started Dead Man's Trousers by Irvine Welsh. Not expecting it to be as good as Trainspotting or Skag Boys but hoping it's better than Porno which I found very underwhelming

Don't mean to sound too rash or unreasonable but you should be shot for that comment Bronze. 

The Begbie chapters from his perspective alone were comedy gold.  LOL

I liked Trainspotting 2 but the screenplay should have reflected the events in Porno a bit more. It made way more sense than Begbie escaping from prison in the film. 

Porno was a fantastic sequel to the flawless original. 

Wings? They're only the band The Beatles could have been.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote thebronze14 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Apr 2021 at 11:42pm
Originally posted by irishmufc irishmufc wrote:

Originally posted by thebronze14 thebronze14 wrote:

Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:

“Among the Thugs” - Bill Buford

An American journalist living in England in the 70’s becomes fascinated with the football hooligan scene. He is an observer rather than a participant in the mayhem but he does put himself in the centre of some wild encounters. Apart from the legitimate psychos, the interesting aspect is how normal people can get whipped up into a frenzy in a crowd and do mad things. I found it relatable thinking back to lads trips away in my younger days where a combination of giddiness and machismo mixed with alcohol created silly and sometimes dangerous situations - although violence wasn’t really an aspect that occurred in my case thankfully. 

Some of the descriptions of the people involved are gas. You’ll recognise some similar characters from our own Ireland games. There drunkards for whom the football is merely an occasion to get acceptably locked in public. However, there are some scary people featured also. Sadists who are given cover by the mass disturbances to carry out some horrible acts. 

Overall it’s a great read and I would recommend it. 

Will give that a go...Just started Dead Man's Trousers by Irvine Welsh. Not expecting it to be as good as Trainspotting or Skag Boys but hoping it's better than Porno which I found very underwhelming

Don't mean to sound too rash or unreasonable but you should be shot for that comment Bronze. 

The Begbie chapters from his perspective alone were comedy gold.  LOL

I liked Trainspotting 2 but the screenplay should have reflected the events in Porno a bit more. It made way more sense than Begbie escaping from prison in the film. 

Porno was a fantastic sequel to the flawless original. 

We'll agree to differ thenLOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cabra Hoop Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Apr 2021 at 1:26pm
Rarely read football books but hopping between 2 at the moment - Basta-My life My Truth, biography of Marco Van Basten and Arthur Hopcrafts classic The Football Man written in 1968. For a biography Basta is surprisingly readable, it seems as though its honest enough and has little of the usual hyperbole and superfluous nonsense associated with such books. The Football Man is an altogether different kettle of fish written in time in 1968 in which the author reflects on different aspects of football from the various perceptions - the player, the manager, the fan, the referee,the press ( media hadn't been invented in 1968). A great read from a very different period long before Super Sundays and Kammy...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irishmufc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Apr 2021 at 10:59am
Originally posted by thebronze14 thebronze14 wrote:

Originally posted by irishmufc irishmufc wrote:

Originally posted by thebronze14 thebronze14 wrote:

Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:

“Among the Thugs” - Bill Buford

An American journalist living in England in the 70’s becomes fascinated with the football hooligan scene. He is an observer rather than a participant in the mayhem but he does put himself in the centre of some wild encounters. Apart from the legitimate psychos, the interesting aspect is how normal people can get whipped up into a frenzy in a crowd and do mad things. I found it relatable thinking back to lads trips away in my younger days where a combination of giddiness and machismo mixed with alcohol created silly and sometimes dangerous situations - although violence wasn’t really an aspect that occurred in my case thankfully. 

Some of the descriptions of the people involved are gas. You’ll recognise some similar characters from our own Ireland games. There drunkards for whom the football is merely an occasion to get acceptably locked in public. However, there are some scary people featured also. Sadists who are given cover by the mass disturbances to carry out some horrible acts. 

Overall it’s a great read and I would recommend it. 

Will give that a go...Just started Dead Man's Trousers by Irvine Welsh. Not expecting it to be as good as Trainspotting or Skag Boys but hoping it's better than Porno which I found very underwhelming

Don't mean to sound too rash or unreasonable but you should be shot for that comment Bronze. 

The Begbie chapters from his perspective alone were comedy gold.  LOL

I liked Trainspotting 2 but the screenplay should have reflected the events in Porno a bit more. It made way more sense than Begbie escaping from prison in the film. 

Porno was a fantastic sequel to the flawless original. 

We'll agree to differ thenLOL

LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Huntacha Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2021 at 8:20am
Originally posted by pre Madonna pre Madonna wrote:

I read Jonathan Wilson's 'The Names Heard Long Ago' the other week and was disappointed. There's an idea without there being a narrative. It ends up being a load of loosely connected, and often similar, stories of the men who helped develop football tactics in, and from, Budapest, but it just fizzled out.
He is unquestionably an excellent writer, but I found this a chore in the end and incomparable with his book on tactics, on which this overlaps a lot, and on Argentina.

Just finished this, and was fairly underwhelmed. I haven't read "Inverting the Pyramid" and after "Angels with Dirty Faces", I had really high expectations for this but it doesn't come close. As you say, it's very disjointed, and the people mentioned lose their importance in terms of the football tactics, even though his aim in the book is to highlight their influence.

The individual stories during the wartime and Communist rule  period are fascinating though and are the redeeming features of the book.

Reading Ioan Grillo's "Gangster Warlords" at the moment, looking at how cartels and criminal gangs have gained such power in Brazil, Jamaica and Mexico. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hotlips_Hoolahan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Apr 2021 at 2:20pm
Reading the latest John Grisham book on kindle.

3 pages in: "Stuart was a sloppy, violent drunk. His pale Irish skin turned red, his cheeks were crimson, and his eyes glowed with whiskey-lit fire that she had seen too many times."

I notice this pejorative kind of writing about Irish people in a lot of books, and not for the first time in a Grisham book.

Can you imagine any other race or nationality of people still being written about in this way in 2020 [when the book was published]?

Imagine if a black person, Asian person, or even an Italian person's looks and denigratory stereotypes were still portrayed this way in the MeToo era.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lassassinblanc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Apr 2021 at 2:46pm
Originally posted by The Huntacha The Huntacha wrote:

Originally posted by pre Madonna pre Madonna wrote:

I read Jonathan Wilson's 'The Names Heard Long Ago' the other week and was disappointed. There's an idea without there being a narrative. It ends up being a load of loosely connected, and often similar, stories of the men who helped develop football tactics in, and from, Budapest, but it just fizzled out.
He is unquestionably an excellent writer, but I found this a chore in the end and incomparable with his book on tactics, on which this overlaps a lot, and on Argentina.

Just finished this, and was fairly underwhelmed. I haven't read "Inverting the Pyramid" and after "Angels with Dirty Faces", I had really high expectations for this but it doesn't come close. As you say, it's very disjointed, and the people mentioned lose their importance in terms of the football tactics, even though his aim in the book is to highlight their influence.

The individual stories during the wartime and Communist rule  period are fascinating though and are the redeeming features of the book.

Reading Ioan Grillo's "Gangster Warlords" at the moment, looking at how cartels and criminal gangs have gained such power in Brazil, Jamaica and Mexico. 

Agree with both callers, compared to his earlier books it's poor, as PM says it felt like a bit of a chore to get through, rather then a I can't put it down and have to read the next chapter of his earlier books.

I agree the wartime communism history is fascinating and obviously it's a topic Wilson is really into but I find a lot of the stories very familiar as PM says having read his other books such as the the excellent Behind the Curtain.

Recently picked up  Wings of Change by Karan Tejwani which is about how Red Bull entered the football market with buying Salzburg and then New York, Leipzig etc. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Huntacha Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Apr 2021 at 5:54pm
Originally posted by Hotlips_Hoolahan Hotlips_Hoolahan wrote:

Reading the latest John Grisham book on kindle.

3 pages in: "Stuart was a sloppy, violent drunk. His pale Irish skin turned red, his cheeks were crimson, and his eyes glowed with whiskey-lit fire that she had seen too many times."

I notice this pejorative kind of writing about Irish people in a lot of books, and not for the first time in a Grisham book.

Can you imagine any other race or nationality of people still being written about in this way in 2020 [when the book was published]?

Imagine if a black person, Asian person, or even an Italian person's looks and denigratory stereotypes were still portrayed this way in the MeToo era.

This is where you should have put the book down. 
Jimmy Bullard - "Favorite band? Elastic."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Huntacha Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2021 at 8:12am
Originally posted by horsebox horsebox wrote:

I've just read the Philly McMahon\Chisty Dignam and Klopp auto's

The Monk\The Witness and the Crowded house crimes books.

The witness is about a 9 year old who started working on a milk round which was a front for heroin distribution, he gets caught up in it before becoming a state witness and the state wash their hands with him post court case.

Crowed house is about Kieran Greene killing his Mother in law - good read but surprised he got convicted.


There's a weekly podcast about this on Spotify. 3 episodes out so far. It's O'Callaghan talking about how he came to be involved in the whole thing. Worth listening to, even if you've read the book.
Jimmy Bullard - "Favorite band? Elastic."
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